Jefferies Financial Group Reiterates Buy Rating for Liquidia Technologies (NASDAQ:LQDA)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group has initiated coverage on Liquidia Technologies (NASDAQ:LQDA), assigning it a "buy" rating with a price target of $43.00, indicating a potential upside of 64.81% from the current price.
• A variety of analysts have issued ratings on the stock, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.40.
• Liquidia Technologies reported a significant revenue increase of 141.5% year-over-year, although it missed earnings expectations with a loss of $0.49 per share.

Liquidia Technologies (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $43.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group's target price indicates a potential upside of 65.70% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on LQDA. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia Technologies from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia Technologies from $33.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia Technologies from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Oppenheimer set a $13.00 target price on shares of Liquidia Technologies and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Liquidia Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $31.40.

Liquidia Technologies Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:LQDA traded down $0.14 on Friday, reaching $25.95. 2,835,429 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,389,637. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.26 and a beta of 0.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.49, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.84. Liquidia Technologies has a 12 month low of $8.26 and a 12 month high of $26.65. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $16.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.53.

Liquidia Technologies (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.43) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $8.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.90 million. Liquidia Technologies had a negative net margin of 732.17% and a negative return on equity of 232.96%. The firm's revenue was up 141.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Liquidia Technologies will post -1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liquidia Technologies news, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 30,000 shares of Liquidia Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 376,412 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,528,240. The trade was a 7.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 2,576 shares of Liquidia Technologies stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.28, for a total transaction of $36,785.28. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 193,634 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,765,093.52. The trade was a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 90,277 shares of company stock valued at $1,469,392 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 26.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Liquidia Technologies by 10.2% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 12,139 shares of the company's stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Liquidia Technologies by 65.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,961 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,173 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Liquidia Technologies by 24.0% in the second quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the company's stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Liquidia Technologies by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,243 shares of the company's stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Liquidia Technologies by 7.4% in the first quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 18,641 shares of the company's stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,283 shares during the period. 64.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Liquidia Technologies

Liquidia Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes various products for unmet patient needs in the United States. Its lead product candidates include YUTREPIA, an inhaled dry powder formulation of treprostinil for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD).