California State Teachers Retirement System Acquires 5,835,156 Shares of Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

Key Points

• California State Teachers Retirement System increased its Liquidia stake by 8,055.4%, buying 5.84 million shares to own 5.91 million shares, or approximately 6.6% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 64.54% of LQDA.
• Liquidia reported quarterly revenue of $171.68 million, up 1,842.1% year over year, but missed EPS estimates slightly at $0.74 versus $0.76 expected.
• Analyst views remain mixed: the consensus rating is Hold with a $98.08 target price, while recent targets range from $108 to $130. Meanwhile, insiders sold 705,027 shares worth $54.47 million over the past 90 days.

California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Free Report) by 8,055.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,907,594 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 5,835,156 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 6.60% of Liquidia worth $471,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Liquidia by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,304 shares of the company's stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in 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. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Liquidia by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,756 shares of the company's stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Liquidia by 1.3% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 120,400 shares of the company's stock worth $4,544,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In other news, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 50,000 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were 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 $10,536,145.90. The trade was a 26.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 73,631 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.09, for a total value of $5,087,165.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 174,606 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,063,528.54. The trade was a 29.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 705,027 shares of company stock worth $54,473,044 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 25.60% of the company's stock.

Liquidia Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LQDA opened at $65.31 on Tuesday. Liquidia Corporation has a 1-year low of $21.15 and a 1-year high of $93.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $77.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.67. The company has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a PE ratio of 47.67 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.12.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last released its 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 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 1842.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.49) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.57 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LQDA shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Liquidia from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Liquidia from $62.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Liquidia from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Liquidia from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $98.08.

About Liquidia

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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