Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Shares Climb 7.2% – What’s Next?

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) traded up 7.2% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as high as $42.37 and last traded at $42.5550. Approximately 2,562,494 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 13% from the average daily volume of 2,260,279 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.69.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Stephens set a $130.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on Liquidia from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings raised Liquidia from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Lifesci Capital raised Liquidia from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $59.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liquidia currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.85.

Liquidia Stock Up 7.5%

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $56.47 and its 200-day moving average is $61.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 0.61. 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 (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.02). Liquidia had a return on equity of 149.65% and a net margin of 30.74%. The firm had revenue of $171.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.49) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1842.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephen Bloch sold 235,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.13, for a total value of $6,388,491.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.06, for a total transaction of $3,703,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 142,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,536,145.90. This trade represents a 26.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 566,598 shares of company stock worth $25,848,390. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Liquidia by 63.3% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 58,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after buying an additional 22,592 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,694,000. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Liquidia by 25.2% during the second quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 256,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,459,000 after buying an additional 51,727 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position 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. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new position in Liquidia during the second quarter worth about $1,993,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

About Liquidia

Liquidia Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for patients with pulmonary hypertension and other serious cardiopulmonary diseases. The company is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and uses its proprietary PRINT technology to engineer drug particles with controlled size, shape and composition for inhaled and injectable medicines.

Liquidia’s lead product is Yutrepia (treprostinil) inhalation powder, a dry-powder formulation of treprostinil delivered through a proprietary inhaler.