Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, BTIG Research Analyst Says

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) had its price target raised by investment analysts at BTIG Research from $59.00 to $109.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. BTIG Research’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 53.37% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research raised shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Liquidia presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.43.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LQDA opened at $71.07 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $53.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 2.03. Liquidia has a 1-year low of $11.85 and a 1-year high of $73.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 507.68 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Liquidia

In other news, Director Paul B. Manning sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.91, for a total value of $12,782,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 716,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,779,436.01. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 85,062 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.44, for a total transaction of $6,076,829.28. Following the transaction, the director owned 980,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,016,415.12. This represents a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,264,580 shares of company stock worth $127,670,941. 25.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Apis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia during the third quarter worth about $9,569,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Liquidia by 63.6% in the 4th quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 63,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,179,000 after buying an additional 24,555 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,536,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the 4th quarter worth approximately $709,000. Institutional investors 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).