Sapient Capital LLC Decreases Position in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

Sapient Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 23.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,000 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC owned 0.06% of Liquidia worth $1,708,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the third quarter valued at $30,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the third quarter valued at $34,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Liquidia by 281.2% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 4,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Liquidia in the 3rd quarter worth about $170,000. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on LQDA shares. HC Wainwright upped their target price on shares of Liquidia from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Liquidia from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.33.

Liquidia Stock Performance

LQDA opened at $56.97 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.15 and its 200 day moving average is $36.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 406.96 and a beta of 0.41. Liquidia Corporation has a 12-month low of $11.85 and a 12-month high of $59.75.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liquidia news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.04, for a total transaction of $1,426,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,198,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,339,338.80. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total value of $16,017,995.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,870,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,932,209.66. The trade was a 14.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,022,713 shares of company stock valued at $44,689,753. Company insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

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).