Opaleye Management Inc. Sells 97,500 Shares of Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

Opaleye Management Inc. cut its stake in Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 3.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,447,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 97,500 shares during the quarter. Liquidia makes up approximately 17.7% of Opaleye Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Opaleye Management Inc.’s holdings in Liquidia were worth $195,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in Liquidia in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Globeflex Capital L P acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 2nd quarter valued at about $175,000. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the second quarter valued at about $177,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Liquidia news, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.48, for a total value of $8,948,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 501,477 shares in the company, valued at $44,872,161.96. The trade was a 16.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 73,631 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.09, for a total value of $5,087,165.79. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 174,606 shares in the company, valued at $12,063,528.54. This represents a 29.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 790,089 shares of company stock worth $60,549,874 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on LQDA. Stephens set a $130.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 24th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $70.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Liquidia from $79.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 target price on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.08.

Liquidia Stock Performance

NASDAQ LQDA opened at $67.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.53 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $77.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.21. Liquidia Corporation has a 1-year low of $21.15 and a 1-year high of $93.61.

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

Liquidia Company Profile

Liquidia Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing medicines for patients with serious cardiopulmonary conditions, including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The company is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and serves healthcare providers and patients primarily in the United States.

Liquidia’s lead product is Yutrepia, an inhaled formulation of treprostinil designed for the treatment of PAH. The company has also developed treprostinil injection products and is pursuing additional therapies for rare cardiopulmonary diseases.