Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.11 EPS

Key Points

• Liquidia beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.52 per share versus analysts’ estimate of $0.41, an $0.11 upside. Revenue also surged 4,187.1% year over year.
• The stock was slightly higher in trading, opening at $42.40, near its 52-week high of $46.67. Liquidia still posted a negative net margin of 43.53% and a negative return on equity of 209.33%.
• Insider selling and mixed analyst views were notable in the report, including recent share sales by the CFO and a director. Analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy on average, with a consensus price target of $43.44.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11, Briefing.com reports. Liquidia had a negative net margin of 43.53% and a negative return on equity of 209.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Liquidia Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Liquidia stock opened at $42.40 on Monday. Liquidia has a 1 year low of $11.85 and a 1 year high of $46.67. The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -51.08 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $36.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 139,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total value of $5,595,114.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 353,356 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,183,709.84. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 62,550 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.94, for a total transaction of $2,248,047.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,188,935 shares in the company, valued at $78,670,323.90. The trade was a 2.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 628,820 shares of company stock worth $24,801,008 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 25.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LQDA. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 341,009 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,214,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the 4th quarter valued at about $335,000. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP bought a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,107,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its stake in shares of Liquidia by 554.4% in the 4th quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 101,848 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,513,000 after buying an additional 86,284 shares in the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LQDA shares. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Liquidia from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on Liquidia from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Liquidia from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.44.

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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