Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Sees Large Volume Increase – Still a Buy?

Shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday. Approximately 5,412,789 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 217% from the previous session’s volume of 1,707,124 shares. The stock last traded at $39.0890 and had previously closed at $70.69.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 price target on Liquidia in a report on Friday, July 24th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Liquidia from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Liquidia from $62.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Piper Sandler set a $129.00 target price on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Liquidia from $79.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liquidia presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.08.

Liquidia Stock Down 48.0%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $75.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 26.85 and a beta of 0.53.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $171.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.48 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 149.65% and a net margin of 30.74%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1842.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.49) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Katherine Rielly-Gauvin sold 18,393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.23, for a total transaction of $1,328,526.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 44,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,224,130.51. The trade was a 29.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 73,631 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.09, for a total transaction of $5,087,165.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 174,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,063,528.54. This represents a 29.66% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 597,519 shares of company stock valued at $46,091,764. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidia

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LQDA. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Liquidia by 18.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,341,000 after purchasing an additional 360,372 shares in the last quarter. Eversept Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 33.0% during the 1st quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 677,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,565,000 after buying an additional 167,949 shares in the last quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE boosted its holdings in Liquidia by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 388,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,657,000 after buying an additional 8,985 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Liquidia in the 2nd quarter worth $29,694,000. Finally, Seven Fleet Capital Management LP increased its stake in Liquidia by 25.2% in the 2nd quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 256,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,459,000 after buying an additional 51,727 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

About Liquidia

Liquidia Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for patients with serious cardiopulmonary diseases and other rare conditions. The company uses its proprietary PRINT technology to engineer drug particles with controlled size, shape and composition, with the goal of improving the delivery and performance of medicines.

Liquidia’s lead product is Yutrepia (treprostinil) inhalation powder, a dry-powder inhaler designed for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).