Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Raised to "Strong-Buy" at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Liquidia from a "hold" to a Strong-Buy, and several other firms have raised price targets — the consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy" with a $43.44 target.
• Liquidia beat expectations with Q1 EPS of $0.15 (vs. $0.08 est.) and revenue of $92.02M (vs. $87.49M), with revenue up ~3,072% YoY, but the company remains unprofitable with a negative net margin (~43.5%) and negative ROE.
• Insiders have sold roughly 578,820 shares (~$22.7M) in the past 90 days (insiders still own 25.6% of shares), while institutional investors hold about 64.54% of the company.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on LQDA. Wall Street Zen upgraded 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 research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.44.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Shares of LQDA opened at $42.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a PE ratio of -50.77 and a beta of 0.41. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $36.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Liquidia has a 1 year low of $11.85 and a 1 year high of $46.67.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $92.02 million for 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 was up 3072.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Liquidia will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liquidia

In related news, insider Scott Moomaw sold 10,547 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.34, for a total transaction of $404,371.98. Following the sale, the insider owned 184,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,075,953.72. This represents a 5.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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. Also, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 18,839 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.60, for a total transaction of $764,863.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,423,095 shares in the company, valued at $57,777,657. This trade represents a 1.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 578,820 shares of company stock worth $22,746,258 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 25.60% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidia

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Liquidia in the 1st quarter worth $772,000. Archer Investment Corp bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 1st quarter valued at about $259,000. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,161,000. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 20,546 shares of the company's stock valued at $775,000 after purchasing an additional 1,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,830,000. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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