Insider Selling: Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Sells $4,669,738.92 in Stock

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Stephen Bloch sold 72,534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.38, for a total transaction of $4,669,738.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,564,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,716,522.66. The trade was a 4.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Liquidia Stock Performance

LQDA stock opened at $71.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 508.82 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.89. Liquidia Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $11.85 and a fifty-two week high of $72.71. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on LQDA. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.29.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LQDA. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Liquidia by 124.5% during the 1st quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 204,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,732,000 after buying an additional 113,609 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia during the 1st quarter worth about $2,111,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Liquidia by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,341,000 after buying an additional 360,372 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Liquidia by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 72,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,734,000 after buying an additional 14,485 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia during the 1st quarter worth about $3,650,000. 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).