First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Stock Position in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its stake in Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 9.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 279,475 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,482 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Liquidia were worth $10,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Liquidia by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Liquidia by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in Liquidia in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Liquidia by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Liquidia by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 67,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Price Performance

NASDAQ LQDA opened at $84.11 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $73.77 and its 200 day moving average is $51.95. Liquidia Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $16.82 and a fifty-two week high of $91.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22. The company has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a PE ratio of 600.83 and a beta of 0.55.

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. 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 company’s revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paul B. Manning sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.91, for a total transaction of $12,782,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 716,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,779,436.01. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $16,017,995.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,870,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,932,209.66. This represents a 14.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,200,754 shares of company stock valued at $144,924,608. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LQDA shares. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Liquidia from $59.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Stephens set a $130.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Three research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Liquidia has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.18.

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).