Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating on Liquidia, with five buys, three holds, two sells and one strong buy among 11 covering firms. The average 12-month price target is $98.08, although individual targets range from $60 to $129.
• Liquidia shares opened at $69.68 after recently trading up 4.1%, with a 12-month range of $21.15 to $93.61. The company reported quarterly revenue of $171.68 million, exceeding estimates, but EPS of $0.74 narrowly missed the $0.76 consensus; revenue increased 1,842.1% year over year.
• Insiders sold heavily in the latest quarter, unloading 1.54 million shares worth approximately $111.5 million, while institutional investors own 64.54% of the stock. Recent institutional activity included substantial purchases and stake increases from California State Teachers Retirement System and MPM Bioimpact.

Shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Hold" from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $98.0833.

A number of research firms have weighed in on LQDA. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Liquidia from $79.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $106.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Piper Sandler set a $129.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, May 11th.

Liquidia Trading Up 4.1%

NASDAQ LQDA opened at $69.68 on Thursday. Liquidia has a 12 month low of $21.15 and a 12 month high of $93.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $78.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.83. The stock has a market cap of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.86 and a beta of 0.53.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $171.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $168.48 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 149.65% and a net margin of 30.74%.Liquidia's revenue for the quarter was up 1842.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.49) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Liquidia will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liquidia

In related news, Director Katherine Rielly-Gauvin sold 18,393 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 44,637 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,224,130.51. This trade represents a 29.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.06, for a total value of $3,703,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 142,265 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,536,145.90. This trade represents a 26.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,541,274 shares of company stock worth $111,545,379. Insiders own 25.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Liquidia by 8,055.4% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,907,594 shares of the company's stock worth $471,012,000 after purchasing an additional 5,835,156 shares during the last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,887,000. MPM Bioimpact LLC raised its stake in Liquidia by 600.4% during the 4th quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC now owns 1,400,869 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,316,000 after buying an additional 1,200,869 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 3rd quarter valued at $12,571,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,694,000. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Liquidia Company Profile

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).

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