Traders Purchase High Volume of Liquidia Call Options (NASDAQ:LQDA)

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: Traders bought 14,263 Liquidia call options on Wednesday, about 39% above the stock’s average daily call volume.
• Stock and earnings strength: LQDA jumped to $86.20, near its 52-week high, after the company reported quarterly EPS of $0.52 versus the $0.41 consensus estimate and revenue well above expectations.
• Mixed sentiment from insiders and analysts: Several insiders recently sold shares, while Wall Street remains generally positive overall with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $68.88 average price target, despite one sell rating.

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 14,263 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 39% compared to the average daily volume of 10,292 call options.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Shares of LQDA traded up $5.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $86.20. The company had a trading volume of 2,391,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,812,146. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 618.58 and a beta of 0.55. Liquidia has a 52-week low of $16.50 and a 52-week high of $89.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $69.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $119.44 million. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Liquidia will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sarah Krepp sold 7,864 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total value of $562,354.64. Following the transaction, the insider owned 117,178 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,379,398.78. The trade was a 6.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 35,249 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total transaction of $2,520,655.99. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,130,426 shares of the company's stock, valued at $80,836,763.26. The trade was a 3.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,022,134 shares of company stock worth $129,579,224. Insiders own 25.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Liquidia by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,304 shares of the company's stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Liquidia by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 17,165 shares of the company's stock valued at $648,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in Liquidia in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Liquidia by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,756 shares of the company's stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $59.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Liquidia from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liquidia presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $68.88.

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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