Analysts Set Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Price Target at $98.08

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $98.0833.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LQDA. Zacks Research lowered shares of Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday, July 17th. HC Wainwright set a $36.00 target price on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, May 11th.

Liquidia Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LQDA opened at $68.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.12 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.50. Liquidia has a fifty-two week low of $21.15 and a fifty-two week high of $93.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $171.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.48 million. Liquidia had a net margin of 30.74% and a return on equity of 149.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1842.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.49) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Liquidia will post 2.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In other Liquidia news, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.53, for a total value of $140,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 167,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,697,950.07. This represents a 0.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 Katherine Rielly-Gauvin sold 18,393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.23, for a total transaction of $1,328,526.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 44,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,224,130.51. The trade was a 29.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 1,314,241 shares of company stock valued at $96,868,670 in the last quarter. 25.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 41.9% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Globeflex Capital L P acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the second quarter worth approximately $175,000. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new position in Liquidia during the second quarter valued at approximately $177,000. 64.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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).