Insider Selling: Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Sells 100,000 Shares

Key Points

• Liquidia director Stephen Bloch sold 100,000 shares at an average price of $89.48, generating approximately $8.95 million. The transaction reduced his direct ownership by 16.63% to 501,477 shares.
• Liquidia shares recently traded at $84.16, near their 12-month high of $91.10, with a market capitalization of about $7.48 billion. The stock is up sharply from its 12-month low of $16.82.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.52 versus expectations of $0.41 and revenue of $132.87 million, up 4,187.1% year over year. Analysts have a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $86.18.

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) Director Stephen Bloch sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.48, for a total value of $8,948,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 501,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,872,161.96. The trade was a 16.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Liquidia Stock Down 0.3%

LQDA stock traded down $0.26 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $84.16. 276,611 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,803,461. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Liquidia Corporation has a twelve month low of $16.82 and a twelve month high of $91.10. The firm's 50 day moving average is $71.77 and its 200 day moving average is $50.58. The firm has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 604.11 and a beta of 0.55.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Liquidia by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,656,038 shares of the company's stock worth $298,547,000 after purchasing an additional 90,400 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 52,671 shares during the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 215,000 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 360,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company's stock worth $61,527,000 after buying an additional 151,832 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on LQDA. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Zacks Research upgraded Liquidia from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 price objective on Liquidia in a report on Friday. HC Wainwright set a $36.00 price objective on Liquidia in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.18.

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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