Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

LQDA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 price objective on Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $106.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Liquidia from $70.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $62.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liquidia currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.08.

Liquidia Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $68.64 on Friday. Liquidia has a one year low of $21.15 and a one year high of $93.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $75.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.10 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.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Liquidia

In other Liquidia news, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.06, for a total value of $3,703,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 142,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,536,145.90. This trade represents a 26.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Raman Singh sold 8,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.16, for a total value of $560,242.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 44,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,953,183.92. The trade was a 15.95% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 622,519 shares of company stock valued at $48,078,514 in the last quarter. Insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 18.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,341,000 after buying an additional 360,372 shares during the period. Eversept Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Liquidia by 33.0% during the first quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 677,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,565,000 after buying an additional 167,949 shares during the period. Pale Fire Capital SE raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 2.4% in the first quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 388,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,657,000 after acquiring an additional 8,985 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,694,000. Finally, Seven Fleet Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Liquidia by 25.2% during the second quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 256,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,459,000 after buying an additional 51,727 shares during the period. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Liquidia

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.