Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Liquidia Call Options (NASDAQ:LQDA)

Liquidia Co. (NASDAQ:LQDA) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 6,218 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 139% compared to the average volume of 2,603 call options.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In other Liquidia news, General Counsel Russell Schundler sold 5,964 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.57, for a total transaction of $80,931.48. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 570,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,738,984.57. This represents a 1.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 2,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.67, for a total transaction of $33,491.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 263,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,597,287.84. The trade was a 0.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,138 shares of company stock worth $450,233 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidia

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Liquidia by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,557,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,834,000 after acquiring an additional 115,367 shares during the period. LM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the 4th quarter valued at $25,948,000. Whitefort Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Liquidia by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Whitefort Capital Management LP now owns 1,987,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,370,000 after acquiring an additional 285,220 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP raised its position in shares of Liquidia by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 1,760,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,698,000 after purchasing an additional 260,000 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Liquidia by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,339,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,753,000 after purchasing an additional 101,597 shares during the period. 64.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Raymond James raised their target price on Liquidia from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on Liquidia from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Liquidia from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Liquidia from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.67.

Liquidia Trading Down 5.7%

Liquidia stock opened at $14.13 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.09. Liquidia has a 12 month low of $8.26 and a 12 month high of $19.41. The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.67 and a beta of 0.04.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 million. Liquidia had a negative return on equity of 163.21% and a negative net margin of 765.38%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Liquidia will post -1.51 EPS for the current year.

Liquidia Company Profile

Liquidia Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes various products for unmet patient needs in the United States. Its lead product candidates include YUTREPIA, an inhaled dry powder formulation of treprostinil for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD).