Insider Selling: Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) CAO Sells 1,600 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Liquidia CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,600 shares at an average price of $87.53, totaling $140,048. The sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding, reducing her stake by 0.94% to 167,919 shares.
• Liquidia shares traded at $86.78, near their 12-month high of $91.10, after the company reported quarterly revenue of $132.87 million and EPS of $0.52—both above analyst expectations.
• Analysts collectively rate the stock a “Moderate Buy”, with a consensus price target of $86.18, while institutional investors own approximately 64.54% of the company.

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.53, for a total transaction of $140,048.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 167,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,697,950.07. This trade represents a 0.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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.

Dana Boyle also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, July 13th, Dana Boyle sold 9,002 shares of Liquidia stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total transaction of $643,733.02.

Liquidia Price Performance

LQDA traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $86.78. The company had a trading volume of 1,140,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,805,184. Liquidia Corporation has a twelve month low of $16.82 and a twelve month high of $91.10. The company has a market capitalization of $7.72 billion, a PE ratio of 619.90 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $72.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.98.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LQDA shares. Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $79.00 target price (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Liquidia from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.18.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidia

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Liquidia by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,656,038 shares of the company's stock worth $298,547,000 after buying an additional 90,400 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Liquidia by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company's stock valued at $138,439,000 after acquiring an additional 52,671 shares during the period. Opaleye Management Inc. boosted its stake in Liquidia by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company's stock worth $30,838,000 after acquiring an additional 215,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Liquidia by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company's stock worth $86,341,000 after acquiring an additional 360,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in Liquidia by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,527,000 after purchasing an additional 151,832 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company's stock.

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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