First Trust Advisors LP Sells 27,482 Shares of Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its position in shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 9.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 279,475 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,482 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.31% of Liquidia worth $10,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. TCG Crossover Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,887,000. MPM Bioimpact LLC lifted its position in Liquidia by 600.4% during the 4th quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC now owns 1,400,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200,869 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter valued at about $12,571,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Liquidia by 428.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 420,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,507,000 after acquiring an additional 341,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Liquidia by 157.2% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 482,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,016,000 after acquiring an additional 295,104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Stock Down 3.1%

NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $84.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 600.83 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22. Liquidia Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $16.82 and a fifty-two week high of $91.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.95.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 46.82%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, June 29th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price target on Liquidia in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Piper Sandler set a $129.00 price objective on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright set a $36.00 price objective on Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 24th. 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, Liquidia presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.18.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In other Liquidia news, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $16,017,995.39. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,870,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,932,209.66. This trade represents a 14.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul B. Manning sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 716,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,779,436.01. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,200,754 shares of company stock worth $144,924,608 over the last ninety days. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Liquidia 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).