Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Stock Rating Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on LQDA. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 target price on Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler set a $129.00 price objective on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $79.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. BTIG Research downgraded Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.00.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $27.99 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Liquidia has a 52 week low of $21.35 and a 52 week high of $93.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.43 and a beta of 0.61.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). The company 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%.The company’s revenue was up 1842.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.49) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Liquidia will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 35,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total transaction of $2,520,655.99. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,130,426 shares in the company, valued at $80,836,763.26. This trade represents a 3.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.48, for a total transaction of $8,948,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 501,477 shares in the company, valued at $44,872,161.96. This represents a 16.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 597,519 shares of company stock valued at $46,091,764 in the last three months. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings 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 valued at $86,341,000 after purchasing an additional 360,372 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 2nd quarter worth $29,694,000. Eversept Partners LP raised its holdings in Liquidia by 33.0% in 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 during the period. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP lifted its position in Liquidia by 25.2% in the second quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 256,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,459,000 after buying an additional 51,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pale Fire Capital SE boosted its stake in Liquidia by 2.4% during the first 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Liquidia this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Appeal and label strategy provide potential recovery paths. Liquidia said it disagrees with the ruling, plans to pursue available appeals and intends to seek FDA approval to remove the PH-ILD indication from YUTREPIA’s label. A successful appeal or continued sales under a modified label could help restore investor confidence. Liquidia patent litigation update
• Positive Sentiment: Needham maintained a Buy rating despite lowering its target. The firm reduced its price target from $110 to $72, but the revised target still implies substantial upside if YUTREPIA remains commercially viable and the litigation outcome improves. Needham price target update
• Neutral Sentiment: The final remedy has not been determined. The court directed the parties to submit proposed remedies within one week. Outcomes could range from removing PH-ILD from YUTREPIA’s label to broader restrictions on product availability, while appeals and further proceedings could materially change the result. Reuters report on Liquidia patent ruling
• Negative Sentiment: The ruling creates significant commercial and financial uncertainty. PH-ILD is one of YUTREPIA’s approved uses, and United Therapeutics is seeking injunctive relief that could restrict sales. Investors are therefore reassessing YUTREPIA’s revenue outlook, competitive position and potential litigation exposure. Zacks report on Liquidia patent setback

Liquidia Company Profile

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).