Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Sets New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $80.79 and last traded at $79.2730, with a volume of 80378 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $78.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on LQDA. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target 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. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.88.

Liquidia Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company’s 50-day moving average is $60.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.39. The company has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 573.31 and a beta of 0.55.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.44 million. Liquidia’s revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Sanjeev Khindri sold 4,134 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.46, for a total transaction of $270,611.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 67,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,394,460.72. The trade was a 5.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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. Also, insider Sarah Krepp sold 24,880 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.28, for a total transaction of $1,748,566.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 121,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,564,531.64. This represents a 16.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,302,030 shares of company stock worth $132,996,894. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 102.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,565,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,783,000 after purchasing an additional 4,326,876 shares in the last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,887,000. MPM Bioimpact LLC raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 600.4% during the 4th quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC now owns 1,400,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,316,000 after buying an additional 1,200,869 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Liquidia in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $12,571,000. Finally, Apis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Liquidia in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,569,000. 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).