Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $60.22 and last traded at $59.8530, with a volume of 775626 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $56.97.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Lifesci Capital upgraded Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.33.

Liquidia Stock Up 0.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $5.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 441.21 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.08.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.The firm had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.44 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 32,744 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.37, for a total transaction of $1,256,387.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,137,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,649,673.63. This trade represents a 2.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 139,390 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total value of $5,595,114.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 353,356 shares in the company, valued at $14,183,709.84. The trade was a 28.29% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 1,047,713 shares of company stock valued at $46,156,003 in the last quarter. Insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidia

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LQDA. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ bought a new position in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 359 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).