Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) CEO Sells $1,003,000.00 in Stock

Key Points

• CEO Roger Jeffs sold 25,000 shares on April 9 at an average price of $40.12 for a total of $1,003,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, cutting his ownership by 1.62% to 1,516,667 shares.
• Liquidia trades around $38.85 (12-month range $11.85–$46.67) with a $3.42B market cap; it beat quarterly EPS estimates ($0.15 vs. $0.08) and reported revenue up 3072% YoY but still has negative net margin and ROE, while analysts' consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average target of $43.44.

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) CEO Roger Jeffs sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.12, for a total transaction of $1,003,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,516,667 shares in the company, valued at $60,848,680.04. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Liquidia Stock Performance

LQDA stock traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $38.85. 700,362 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,789,002. Liquidia Corporation has a twelve month low of $11.85 and a twelve month high of $46.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -46.81 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Liquidia from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Liquidia from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Liquidia from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Liquidia from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their target price on Liquidia from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.44.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Liquidia by 102.1% during the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,565,638 shares of the company's stock valued at $194,783,000 after buying an additional 4,326,876 shares during the last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the third quarter valued at about $38,887,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the third quarter valued at about $37,114,000. MPM Bioimpact LLC raised its position in shares of Liquidia by 600.4% during the fourth quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC now owns 1,400,869 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,316,000 after buying an additional 1,200,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the third quarter valued at about $12,571,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company's stock.

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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