Sapient Capital LLC Has $1.83 Million Stake in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

Key Points

• Sapient Capital reduced its Liquidia stake by 37.8% in the second quarter, selling 14,000 shares and retaining 23,000 shares valued at approximately $1.83 million.
• Institutional investors own 64.54% of Liquidia, while insiders own 25.60%; insiders sold approximately $125.8 million worth of stock during the latest quarter, primarily through pre-arranged plans to cover tax obligations.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $86.18, while LQDA recently opened at $91.03 near its 12-month high of $92.36. The company’s latest quarterly results beat estimates, with revenue rising 4,187.1% year over year.

Sapient Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Free Report) by 37.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,000 shares of the company's stock after selling 14,000 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC's holdings in Liquidia were worth $1,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Liquidia by 4.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,681 shares of the company's stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 861,231 shares of the company's stock worth $12,703,000 after purchasing an additional 82,955 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 15.2% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 121,756 shares of the company's stock worth $1,796,000 after purchasing an additional 16,022 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its stake in Liquidia by 40.7% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 26,840 shares of the company's stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 7,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Liquidia by 13.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 94,152 shares of the company's stock worth $1,174,000 after buying an additional 11,111 shares in the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In related news, insider Sarah Krepp sold 7,864 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total transaction of $562,354.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 117,178 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,379,398.78. This trade represents a 6.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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. Also, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.53, for a total value of $140,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 167,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,697,950.07. This trade represents a 0.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 1,806,861 shares of company stock worth $125,814,362 over the last quarter. 25.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on LQDA shares. Stephens set a $130.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday, July 24th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 target price on Liquidia in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 17th. HC Wainwright set a $36.00 price target on Liquidia in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $79.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liquidia currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.18.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Shares of LQDA opened at $91.03 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 650.26 and a beta of 0.58. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $77.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.17. Liquidia Corporation has a 12 month low of $19.90 and a 12 month high of $92.36.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.The firm's revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

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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