Apis Capital Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

Apis Capital Advisors LLC reduced its position in Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 355,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 65,600 shares during the quarter. Liquidia accounts for approximately 2.1% of Apis Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Apis Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Liquidia were worth $12,251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AWH Capital L.P. increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. AWH Capital L.P. now owns 92,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,190,000 after acquiring an additional 7,500 shares during the period. ACT Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia during the fourth quarter worth approximately $293,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia during the fourth quarter worth approximately $773,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,266,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,966 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the period. 64.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Shares of LQDA stock opened at $68.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 490.39 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average is $51.76 and its 200 day moving average is $41.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Liquidia Corporation has a 52-week low of $11.85 and a 52-week high of $73.22.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In other Liquidia news, Director Paul B. Manning sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.91, for a total value of $12,782,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 716,311 shares in the company, valued at $45,779,436.01. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 139,390 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total transaction of $5,595,114.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 353,356 shares in the company, valued at $14,183,709.84. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 2,282,894 shares of company stock valued at $128,344,713 over the last ninety days. 25.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LQDA. BTIG Research raised their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.29.

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).