PSP Research LLC Takes $534,000 Position in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

PSP Research LLC bought a new stake in Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 15,485 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $534,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised 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 valued at $194,783,000 after purchasing an additional 4,326,876 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,439,000 after purchasing an additional 52,671 shares during the period. Opaleye Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,838,000 after purchasing an additional 215,000 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,527,000 after purchasing an additional 151,832 shares during the period. Finally, TCG Crossover Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,887,000. 64.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In other news, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $16,017,995.39. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,870,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,932,209.66. This trade represents a 14.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 32,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.37, for a total transaction of $1,256,387.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,137,599 shares in the company, valued at $43,649,673.63. This represents a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,022,713 shares of company stock valued at $44,689,753. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LQDA shares. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Liquidia from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.33.

Liquidia Stock Up 5.3%

Liquidia stock opened at $59.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 428.46 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Liquidia Corporation has a twelve month low of $11.85 and a twelve month high of $60.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.54.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.44 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Liquidia 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).