Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

LQDA has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $106.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Thursday. BTIG Research lowered Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down from $108.00) on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.69.

Liquidia Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $28.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.91 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $71.62 and its 200-day moving average is $62.21. Liquidia has a 1-year low of $21.91 and a 1-year high of $93.61.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 30.74% and a return on equity of 149.65%. The firm had revenue of $171.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.48 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.49) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1842.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Liquidia will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Katherine Rielly-Gauvin sold 18,393 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.23, for a total transaction of $1,328,526.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 44,637 shares in the company, valued at $3,224,130.51. This represents a 29.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 50,000 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.06, for a total transaction of $3,703,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 142,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,536,145.90. This represents a 26.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 572,519 shares of company stock worth $44,087,514. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Liquidia by 63.3% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 58,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after purchasing an additional 22,592 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Liquidia in the second quarter worth approximately $29,694,000. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Liquidia by 25.2% in the second quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 256,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,459,000 after buying an additional 51,727 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Liquidia by 18.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,341,000 after buying an additional 360,372 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,993,000. 64.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Liquidia News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Liquidia this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Liquidia’s legal options are not exhausted: an appeal could potentially overturn or narrow the ruling, giving investors a possible path to recovery if Yutrepia’s market opportunity is preserved. Liquidia Stock Crashed 57% in a Day After a Delaware Court Ruling
• Positive Sentiment: Despite the litigation setback, Jefferies upgraded LQDA to “strong buy,” while HC Wainwright maintained a “buy” rating and set a $58 price target. These calls indicate that some analysts believe the selloff has overstated the long-term damage or that an appeal could succeed.
• Neutral Sentiment: HC Wainwright cut its target from $130 to $58, and Needham reduced its target from $110 to $72, although both retained “buy” ratings. The sharply lower targets reflect materially higher legal and commercialization risk even among bullish analysts.
• Negative Sentiment: BTIG downgraded Liquidia to “neutral,” and Wells Fargo added to the analyst downgrades following the patent ruling. Analysts cited uncertainty over Yutrepia’s PH-ILD indication and the possibility that UTHR’s patent victory could limit Liquidia’s addressable market. Liquidia extends losses as Wells Fargo adds to downgrades
• Negative Sentiment: The court setback triggered a severe selloff, leaving LQDA on track for its worst week on record as investors reassessed Yutrepia’s revenue potential and Liquidia’s competitive position. The stock’s unusually heavy trading volume underscores the market’s heightened uncertainty. LQDA Stock On Track For Worst Week Ever

Liquidia Company Profile

Liquidia Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for patients with serious cardiopulmonary diseases and other rare conditions. The company uses its proprietary PRINT technology to engineer drug particles with controlled size, shape and composition, with the goal of improving the delivery and performance of medicines.

Liquidia’s lead product is Yutrepia (treprostinil) inhalation powder, a dry-powder inhaler designed for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).