Insider Selling: Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Sells 2,064 Shares of Stock

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Stephen Bloch sold 2,064 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.14, for a total transaction of $132,384.96. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,785,242 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,505,421.88. This trade represents a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Liquidia Trading Up 3.3%

NASDAQ LQDA traded up $2.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $63.90. 3,158,836 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,717,868. Liquidia Corporation has a 1-year low of $11.85 and a 1-year high of $66.78. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.68 billion, a PE ratio of 456.46 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 46.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.63.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 124.5% in the first quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 204,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,732,000 after purchasing an additional 113,609 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia in the first quarter valued at $2,111,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Liquidia by 18.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,341,000 after acquiring an additional 360,372 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Liquidia by 25.0% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 72,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,734,000 after acquiring an additional 14,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia in the first quarter valued at $3,650,000. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).