Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $67.4286.

Several brokerages recently commented on LQDA. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Lifesci Capital upgraded Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, June 4th.

Liquidia Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of LQDA stock opened at $78.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 558.40 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $56.77 and a 200-day moving average of $43.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Liquidia has a 1-year low of $11.85 and a 1-year high of $79.41.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.The company had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.44 million. The company’s revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Liquidia will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liquidia

In other Liquidia news, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.74, for a total value of $7,574,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 880,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,656,729.02. This trade represents a 10.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sarah Krepp sold 24,880 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.28, for a total value of $1,748,566.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 121,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,564,531.64. This trade represents a 16.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,302,030 shares of company stock valued at $132,996,894. Company insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Liquidia by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,656,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,547,000 after acquiring an additional 90,400 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Liquidia by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,439,000 after acquiring an additional 52,671 shares during the period. Opaleye Management Inc. grew its stake in Liquidia by 9.5% in the second quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,838,000 after acquiring an additional 215,000 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Liquidia by 18.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,341,000 after acquiring an additional 360,372 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 9.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

About Liquidia

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).