Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Rating Lowered to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Liquidia from “Buy” to “Hold,” joining Zacks Research and Lifesci Capital. MarketBeat’s consensus rating is “Hold,” with an average price target of $98.08.
• Liquidia shares opened at $66.74, down 1.6%, after trading between $21.15 and $93.61 over the past year. The company recently reported $171.68 million in quarterly revenue, up 1,842.1% year over year, but narrowly missed earnings estimates.
• Insiders have sold 790,089 shares worth approximately $60.5 million over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 64.54% of the company.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on LQDA. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $106.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research cut shares of Liquidia from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Lifesci Capital downgraded shares of Liquidia from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $98.08.

Liquidia Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $66.74 on Friday. Liquidia has a 1 year low of $21.15 and a 1 year high of $93.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.12. The business's 50-day moving average is $77.47 and its 200-day moving average is $59.26. The company has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.72 and a beta of 0.53.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $171.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.48 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 149.65% and a net margin of 30.74%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1842.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.49) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Liquidia will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In other news, insider Jason Adair sold 73,631 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.09, for a total transaction of $5,087,165.79. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 174,606 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,063,528.54. This represents a 29.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Katherine Rielly-Gauvin sold 18,393 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.23, for a total value of $1,328,526.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 44,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,224,130.51. This represents a 29.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 790,089 shares of company stock valued at $60,549,874. Company insiders own 25.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LQDA. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,304 shares of the company's stock worth $217,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 17,165 shares of the company's stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in Liquidia in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Liquidia by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,756 shares of the company's stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company's stock.

Liquidia Company Profile

Liquidia Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing medicines for patients with serious cardiopulmonary conditions, including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The company is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and serves healthcare providers and patients primarily in the United States.

Liquidia's lead product is Yutrepia, an inhaled formulation of treprostinil designed for the treatment of PAH. The company has also developed treprostinil injection products and is pursuing additional therapies for rare cardiopulmonary diseases.

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