Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Liquidia from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liquidia presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.67.

Liquidia Trading Down 2.2%

NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $37.93 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19. The stock has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.34, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $33.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.32. Liquidia has a 52 week low of $11.26 and a 52 week high of $41.57.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.41. The business had revenue of $54.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.86 million. Liquidia had a negative return on equity of 296.78% and a negative net margin of 176.04%.The firm’s revenue was up 1106.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Liquidia will post -1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 71,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $1,927,287.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 176,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,766,823. This represents a 28.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 66,610 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $2,493,212.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,037,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,834,673.04. The trade was a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 323,354 shares of company stock worth $11,046,731. 30.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors 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 third 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. TCG Crossover Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 3rd quarter worth $38,887,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the third quarter valued at $37,114,000. Tyro Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $15,473,000. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP grew its stake in Liquidia by 811.7% during the 2nd quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 1,103,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,754,000 after buying an additional 982,778 shares during the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).