SG Americas Securities LLC Cuts Stake in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its position in Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 37.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 34,088 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,608 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Liquidia were worth $1,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Liquidia by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Liquidia by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in Liquidia in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Liquidia by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Liquidia by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 67,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LQDA opened at $78.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 563.83 and a beta of 0.55. Liquidia Corporation has a 52 week low of $11.86 and a 52 week high of $80.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.31. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. Liquidia had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 46.82%. The company had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.44 million. Liquidia’s revenue was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LQDA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 target price on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen cut Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, June 29th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on Liquidia from $59.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Sanjeev Khindri sold 4,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.46, for a total transaction of $270,611.64. Following the sale, the insider owned 67,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,394,460.72. The trade was a 5.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.74, for a total value of $7,574,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 880,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,656,729.02. This represents a 10.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,302,030 shares of company stock worth $132,996,894. Company insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

About Liquidia

Liquidia Technologies, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The company leverages its proprietary PRINT® (Particle Replication In Non-wetting Templates) platform to engineer precisely shaped and sized drug particles, with the goal of improving delivery, efficacy and safety profiles. By controlling particle characteristics at the nanoscale, Liquidia seeks to enhance respiratory and other therapies that depend on targeted delivery.

The company’s lead product candidate, LIQ861, is a dry powder formulation of treprostinil designed for inhalation in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).