Stephen Bloch Sells 62,550 Shares of Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Stock

Key Points

• Director Stephen Bloch sold 62,550 shares of Liquidia on March 27 at an average price of $35.94 for a total of $2,248,047, reducing his stake by 2.78% to 2,188,935 shares (about $78.7M).
• Liquidia beat expectations in the quarter with EPS $0.15 vs. $0.08 and revenue of $92.02M (up 3,072% YoY), but the company remains unprofitable with a negative net margin (~43.5%) and negative return on equity.
• The stock trades around $37.15, analysts have a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $43.44, and institutional investors hold roughly 64.5% of the shares.

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) Director Stephen Bloch sold 62,550 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction 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 owned 2,188,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,670,323.90. This trade represents a 2.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Liquidia Price Performance

NASDAQ:LQDA traded down $0.32 on Thursday, reaching $37.15. 100,645 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,847,430. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.05. Liquidia Corporation has a 12 month low of $11.26 and a 12 month high of $46.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of -44.91 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $92.02 million during 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 3072.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Liquidia Corporation will post -1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Liquidia by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,656,038 shares of the company's stock valued at $298,547,000 after purchasing an additional 90,400 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Liquidia by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company's stock valued at $138,439,000 after buying an additional 52,671 shares during the period. Opaleye Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Liquidia by 9.5% in the second quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,838,000 after acquiring an additional 215,000 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company's stock worth $61,527,000 after purchasing an additional 151,832 shares during the period. Finally, TCG Crossover Management LLC bought a new position in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,887,000. Institutional investors own 64.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LQDA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday, March 5th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Liquidia from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Liquidia presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.44.

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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