Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $80.79 and last traded at $79.2730, with a volume of 80378 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $78.93.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LQDA. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Liquidia presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.88.

Liquidia Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 580.26 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.48 and its 200 day moving average is $46.03.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. Liquidia had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 46.82%. The business had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.44 million. Liquidia’s quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In other news, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $16,017,995.39. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,870,042 shares in the company, valued at $93,932,209.66. This represents a 14.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 139,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $14,183,709.84. The trade was a 28.29% 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 have sold 2,327,030 shares of company stock valued at $134,983,644 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Liquidia in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Liquidia by 41.9% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Liquidia by 281.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 4,927 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

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).