Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Shares Gap Up to $8.90

Liquidia Co. (NASDAQ:LQDA) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $8.90, but opened at $9.43. Liquidia shares last traded at $9.62, with a volume of 708,710 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LQDA. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, August 19th. BTIG Research lowered their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $29.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. HC Wainwright decreased their price target on Liquidia from $32.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on Liquidia from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.14.

Liquidia Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $11.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $749.62 million, a PE ratio of -6.23 and a beta of 0.22.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.37) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.35) by ($0.02). Liquidia had a negative return on equity of 183.57% and a negative net margin of 755.46%. The firm had revenue of $3.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.92 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Liquidia Co. will post -1.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liquidia

In other news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 8,053 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.53, for a total transaction of $100,904.09. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 818,932 shares in the company, valued at $10,261,217.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 8,053 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.53, for a total value of $100,904.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 818,932 shares in the company, valued at $10,261,217.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 3,906 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.53, for a total value of $48,942.18. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 312,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,914,234.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,422 shares of company stock valued at $256,998 in the last three months. 31.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LQDA. Bluefin Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the second quarter valued at approximately $277,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Liquidia by 25.2% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 22,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 4,572 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Liquidia by 53.4% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 82,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $987,000 after purchasing an additional 28,638 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Liquidia in the 2nd quarter worth $545,000. Finally, HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,461,000. Institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Company Profile

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).