Insider Selling: Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Sells 200,000 Shares of Stock

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Paul Manning sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.91, for a total value 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. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Liquidia Price Performance

Shares of LQDA traded up $2.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $63.90. The company had a trading volume of 3,158,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,717,868. Liquidia Corporation has a twelve month low of $11.85 and a twelve month high of $66.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The company’s 50-day moving average is $46.78 and its 200-day moving average is $39.64. The company has a market capitalization of $5.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 456.46 and a beta of 0.58.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.The business had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.44 million. The firm’s revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LQDA shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. BTIG Research raised their price target on Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.63.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Liquidia by 1.1% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Liquidia by 1.3% in 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 last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. boosted its position in Liquidia by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,838,000 after buying an additional 215,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Liquidia by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,341,000 after buying an additional 360,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in Liquidia by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,527,000 after buying an additional 151,832 shares during the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).