Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Shares Down 6.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA)’s share price was down 6.1% on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company downgraded the stock from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating. Wells Fargo & Company now has a $30.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $108.00. Liquidia traded as low as $25.92 and last traded at $26.8880. 1,088,644 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 1,950,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.64.

A number of other research firms have also commented on LQDA. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Stephens set a $130.00 target price on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush set a $58.00 price target on Liquidia in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Liquidia from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.69.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Katherine Rielly-Gauvin sold 18,393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.23, for a total transaction of $1,328,526.39. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 44,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,224,130.51. This trade represents a 29.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 73,631 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.09, for a total value of $5,087,165.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 174,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,063,528.54. The trade was a 29.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 522,519 shares of company stock valued at $40,040,514. 25.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LQDA. Globeflex Capital L P purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia during the second quarter worth approximately $175,000. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $177,000. Fluent Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 2nd quarter valued at $287,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 2nd quarter valued at $335,000. Finally, Fulcrum Equity Management purchased a new position in Liquidia in the 2nd quarter worth $399,000. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Liquidia Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 2.31. The company has a market cap of $2.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50-day moving average is $70.49 and its 200 day moving average is $62.14.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). Liquidia had a net margin of 30.74% and a return on equity of 149.65%. The business had revenue of $171.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.49) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1842.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Liquidia Company Profile

Liquidia Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for patients with serious cardiopulmonary diseases and other rare conditions. The company uses its proprietary PRINT technology to engineer drug particles with controlled size, shape and composition, with the goal of improving the delivery and performance of medicines.

Liquidia’s lead product is Yutrepia (treprostinil) inhalation powder, a dry-powder inhaler designed for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).