Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $73.12 and last traded at $69.5090, with a volume of 19264 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $71.23.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on LQDA shares. Zacks Research raised Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 target price on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their target price on Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liquidia currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.29.

Liquidia Stock Down 5.3%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.14 and a 200 day moving average of $41.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 485.82 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Sanjeev Khindri sold 4,134 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.46, for a total transaction of $270,611.64. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 67,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,394,460.72. This trade represents a 5.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 85,062 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.44, for a total value of $6,076,829.28. Following the sale, the director owned 980,073 shares in the company, valued at $70,016,415.12. This trade represents a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,282,894 shares of company stock valued at $128,344,713. 25.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP raised 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 buying an additional 113,609 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the first quarter valued at $2,111,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 360,372 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 14,485 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the first quarter valued at $3,650,000. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by 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).