Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 10th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. HC Wainwright lifted their target price on shares of Liquidia from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Liquidia from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.67.

Liquidia Price Performance

NASDAQ LQDA traded up $0.08 on Tuesday, hitting $40.07. 361,250 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,528,251. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19. The company has a market cap of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.48. Liquidia has a 1-year low of $11.26 and a 1-year high of $41.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $32.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.68.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.45) by $0.41. The business had revenue of $54.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.86 million. Liquidia had a negative net margin of 176.04% and a negative return on equity of 296.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1106.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Liquidia will post -1.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In other Liquidia news, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 71,381 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total value of $1,927,287.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 176,549 shares in the company, valued at $4,766,823. This represents a 28.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 66,610 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total value of $2,493,212.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,037,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,834,673.04. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 323,354 shares of company stock valued at $11,046,731. Insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Liquidia by 102.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,565,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,783,000 after acquiring an additional 4,326,876 shares in the last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC acquired a new position in Liquidia during the third quarter worth $38,887,000. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Liquidia in the third quarter valued at $37,114,000. Tyro Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $15,473,000. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP lifted its position in Liquidia by 811.7% during the 2nd quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 1,103,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,754,000 after buying an additional 982,778 shares in the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).