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

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on LQDA. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, October 20th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Liquidia from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Liquidia from $36.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liquidia has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.56.

Liquidia Stock Up 12.9%

Shares of LQDA opened at $35.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.48. Liquidia has a 12-month low of $11.26 and a 12-month high of $38.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Scott Moomaw sold 831 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.19, for a total transaction of $26,749.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 154,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,973,548.14. The trade was a 0.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 71,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,766,823. The trade was a 28.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 113,088 shares of company stock worth $3,176,474 over the last three months. Company insiders own 30.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 102.1% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the third quarter worth $38,887,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the third quarter worth $37,114,000. Tyro Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Liquidia in the second quarter valued at $15,473,000. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP raised its stake in Liquidia by 811.7% in the second quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 1,103,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,754,000 after buying an additional 982,778 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).