Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $68.8750.

LQDA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price objective on Liquidia from $59.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd.

Liquidia Price Performance

LQDA stock opened at $79.94 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $68.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.42. The stock has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 571.04 and a beta of 0.55. 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 has a twelve month low of $14.25 and a twelve month high of $82.96.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.44 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Liquidia will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In other news, Director Paul B. Manning sold 200,000 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.91, for a total transaction of $12,782,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 716,311 shares in the company, valued at $45,779,436.01. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $16,017,995.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,870,042 shares in the company, valued at $93,932,209.66. This trade represents a 14.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,022,134 shares of company stock valued at $129,579,224 over the last 90 days. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the second quarter worth about $25,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Liquidia by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Liquidia by 281.2% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 4,927 shares in the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Liquidia Company Profile

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).