Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $79.91 and last traded at $79.7050, with a volume of 554017 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.12.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LQDA has been the topic of several research reports. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price 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. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.88.

Liquidia Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22. The stock has a market cap of $7.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 570.03 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $57.44 and its 200 day moving average is $44.09.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $119.44 million. Liquidia’s revenue for the quarter was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.74, for a total transaction of $7,574,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 880,073 shares in the company, valued at $66,656,729.02. The trade was a 10.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Sanjeev Khindri sold 4,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.46, for a total value of $270,611.64. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 67,132 shares in the company, valued at $4,394,460.72. This represents a 5.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,302,030 shares of company stock worth $132,996,894. Insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LQDA. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the second quarter valued at $25,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Liquidia by 41.9% during the 4th 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. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in Liquidia by 281.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 4,927 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

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).