Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give Liquidia a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating across 12 firms (2 sell, 1 hold, 7 buy, 2 strong buy) with an average 1‑year price target of $42.00.
• Liquidia beat Q4 expectations with $0.15 EPS vs. $0.08 est. and revenue of $92.02M (vs. $87.49M), a year‑over‑year revenue jump of 3072.4%, but the company remains unprofitable with a negative ROE (209.33%) and negative net margin (43.53%).
• Insiders sold a total of 212,534 shares worth about $7.96M last quarter (insiders own 26.50%), while institutional investors hold 64.54% of the stock and some firms (e.g., Invesco) materially increased positions.

Shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.00.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Liquidia from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Liquidia from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th.

Liquidia Price Performance

Liquidia stock opened at $38.56 on Thursday. The business's fifty day moving average is $37.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -46.46 and a beta of 0.52. Liquidia has a 52 week low of $11.26 and a 52 week high of $46.67.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $92.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $87.49 million. Liquidia had a negative return on equity of 209.33% and a negative net margin of 43.53%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3072.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Liquidia will post -1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In other news, insider Jason Adair sold 688 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total transaction of $28,655.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 211,169 shares in the company, valued at $8,795,188.85. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,580 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total value of $65,807.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 178,848 shares in the company, valued at $7,449,019.20. This trade represents a 0.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 212,534 shares of company stock valued at $7,964,719 over the last quarter. 26.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,148,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Liquidia by 428.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 420,621 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,507,000 after buying an additional 341,009 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Liquidia in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,214,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Liquidia in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $335,000. Finally, Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new stake in Liquidia during the 4th quarter worth $3,107,000. Institutional investors 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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