Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Sets New 1-Year High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Liquidia shares reached a new 52-week high of $92.36 and were last trading near $91, giving the company an $8.1 billion market capitalization and a very high P/E ratio of 650.26.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with an average price target of $86.18, below the current share price; individual targets range from $60 to $130.
• The company exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue up 4,187% year over year, but insiders sold more than 1.8 million shares worth approximately $125.8 million during the last quarter.

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $92.36 and last traded at $91.03, with a volume of 1649881 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $90.22.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LQDA has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Piper Sandler set a $129.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Stephens set a $130.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $79.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liquidia currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $86.18.

Liquidia Trading Up 0.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22. The stock has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 650.26 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.17.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.The company had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $119.44 million. The company's revenue was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Liquidia news, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 242,269 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.43, for a total value of $17,063,005.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,176,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $82,838,639.12. The trade was a 17.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul B. Manning sold 200,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.91, for a total transaction of $12,782,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 716,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,779,436.01. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,806,861 shares of company stock worth $125,814,362. 25.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Liquidia in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,694,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new position in Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,993,000. Fulcrum Equity Management bought a new position in Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $399,000. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $287,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,395,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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