Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Lowered to Strong Sell Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Zacks reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on LQDA. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Liquidia from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $70.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Liquidia from $62.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.08.

Liquidia Stock Down 1.7%

Liquidia stock opened at $67.49 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $75.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.26 and a beta of 0.53. Liquidia has a twelve month low of $21.15 and a twelve month high of $93.61.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $171.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.48 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 149.65% and a net margin of 30.74%.Liquidia’s revenue for the quarter was up 1842.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.49) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Liquidia will post 2.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liquidia

In other news, Director Katherine Rielly-Gauvin sold 18,393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.23, for a total transaction of $1,328,526.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 44,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,224,130.51. This represents a 29.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Raman Singh sold 8,468 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.16, for a total transaction of $560,242.88. Following the sale, the director owned 44,637 shares in the company, valued at $2,953,183.92. This represents a 15.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 622,519 shares of company stock valued at $48,078,514 over the last three months. 25.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LQDA. Globeflex Capital L P acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the 2nd quarter valued at $175,000. Nykredit A S bought a new position in Liquidia in the second quarter valued at about $177,000. Fluent Financial LLC bought a new position in Liquidia in the second quarter valued at about $287,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the second quarter valued at about $335,000. Finally, Fulcrum Equity Management acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the second quarter valued at about $399,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Company Profile

Liquidia Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing medicines for patients with serious cardiopulmonary conditions, including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The company is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and serves healthcare providers and patients primarily in the United States.

Liquidia’s lead product is Yutrepia, an inhaled formulation of treprostinil designed for the treatment of PAH. The company has also developed treprostinil injection products and is pursuing additional therapies for rare cardiopulmonary diseases.