Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Liquidia has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 12 firms covering the stock and an average 1-year price target of about $49.33.
• Recent research has been mixed but generally positive, including Wells Fargo raising its target to $62 and rating the stock overweight, while other firms like Weiss Ratings kept a sell view.
• The company reported a strong quarter, with EPS of $0.52 versus the expected $0.41 and revenue of $132.87 million, far above estimates; shares also traded near a 52-week high at $60.98.

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $49.3333.

LQDA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Liquidia from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.65, for a total transaction of $1,466,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,148,095 shares in the company, valued at $67,335,771.75. This represents a 2.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 688 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total transaction of $28,655.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 214,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,943,837.70. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,047,713 shares of company stock valued at $46,156,003. Insiders own 25.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,111,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 18.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company's stock valued at $86,341,000 after buying an additional 360,372 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 25.0% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 72,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,734,000 after buying an additional 14,485 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,650,000. Finally, Eversept Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 33.0% during the first quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 677,392 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,565,000 after buying an additional 167,949 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company's stock.

Liquidia Price Performance

LQDA stock opened at $60.98 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 435.60 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 2.03. Liquidia has a 1 year low of $11.85 and a 1 year high of $62.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.53 and a 200 day moving average of $37.56.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 46.82%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Liquidia will post 2.97 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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