Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Stephen Bloch Sells 242,269 Shares

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Stephen Bloch sold 242,269 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.43, for a total transaction of $17,063,005.67. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,176,184 shares in the company, valued at $82,838,639.12. This trade represents a 17.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Liquidia Price Performance

Liquidia stock opened at $71.23 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.89. The company has a market capitalization of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 508.82 and a beta of 0.58. Liquidia Corporation has a 1 year low of $11.85 and a 1 year high of $72.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 46.82%. Liquidia’s revenue for the quarter was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Apis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia in the third quarter valued at approximately $9,569,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 102.1% in the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,565,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,783,000 after purchasing an additional 4,326,876 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 63.6% in the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 63,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,179,000 after purchasing an additional 24,555 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new position in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,536,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $709,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LQDA. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liquidia currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.29.

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).