Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.41 EPS

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.41, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $54.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.86 million. Liquidia had a negative net margin of 176.04% and a negative return on equity of 257.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1106.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Shares of LQDA stock traded down $0.61 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $27.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,232,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,995,670. Liquidia has a fifty-two week low of $9.71 and a fifty-two week high of $29.94. The firm has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of -18.98 and a beta of 0.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.84, a current ratio of 2.49 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,238 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.41, for a total value of $28,981.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 185,411 shares in the company, valued at $4,340,471.51. This trade represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 5,327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.41, for a total transaction of $124,705.07. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 247,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,804,041.30. This trade represents a 2.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 849,141 shares of company stock worth $23,584,920. 30.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 4.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 10.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 861,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,703,000 after purchasing an additional 82,955 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Liquidia by 15.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 121,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,796,000 after acquiring an additional 16,022 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in Liquidia by 40.7% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 26,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 7,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Liquidia by 13.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 94,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 11,111 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, October 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $36.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Liquidia has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.56.

Liquidia Company Profile

Liquidia Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes various products for unmet patient needs in the United States. Its lead product candidates include YUTREPIA, an inhaled dry powder formulation of treprostinil for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD).