GSA Capital Partners LLP Increases Stock Holdings in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners boosted its Liquidia stake by 63.6% in the fourth quarter, adding 24,555 shares to bring its total to 63,176 shares valued at about $2.18 million.
• Analyst sentiment on LQDA is generally positive, with several firms raising price targets; MarketBeat shows an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.33.
• Liquidia reported strong quarterly results, including EPS of $0.52 versus $0.41 expected and revenue of $132.87 million, while CEO Roger Jeffs sold 25,000 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan.

GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Free Report) by 63.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,176 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 24,555 shares during the quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP owned about 0.07% of Liquidia worth $2,179,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in Liquidia in the third quarter worth $7,290,000. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidia in the third quarter worth $37,114,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Liquidia by 102.1% in the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,565,638 shares of the company's stock worth $194,783,000 after acquiring an additional 4,326,876 shares during the period. Apis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidia in the third quarter worth $9,569,000. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in Liquidia in the third quarter worth $1,536,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LQDA has been the subject of several recent research reports. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Liquidia from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Lifesci Capital raised Liquidia to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liquidia has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 25,000 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total value of $1,426,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,198,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,339,338.80. This trade represents a 2.04% 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, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,576 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.78, for a total value of $59,541.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 175,342 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,624,420.76. The trade was a 0.89% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 1,022,713 shares of company stock valued at $44,689,753 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company's stock.

Liquidia Price Performance

LQDA opened at $56.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The firm has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a PE ratio of 406.96 and a beta of 0.41. Liquidia Corporation has a 1 year low of $11.85 and a 1 year high of $59.75.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.The company had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.44 million. The firm'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.

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).

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