Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Stock Price Up 3.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Liquidia Co. (NASDAQ:LQDA)’s stock price was up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $23.00 to $25.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Liquidia traded as high as $14.71 and last traded at $14.57. Approximately 617,093 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 1,189,840 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.13.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Liquidia from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 14,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.57, for a total value of $191,744.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,006,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,657,119.40. This represents a 1.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 2,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.67, for a total transaction of $33,491.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 263,152 shares in the company, valued at $3,597,287.84. The trade was a 0.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 33,138 shares of company stock valued at $450,233. Insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Liquidia by 65.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 1st quarter worth $79,000. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Liquidia by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of -8.87 and a beta of 0.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.11.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 million. Liquidia had a negative net margin of 765.38% and a negative return on equity of 163.21%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Liquidia Co. will post -1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Liquidia

Liquidia Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes various products for unmet patient needs in the United States. Its lead product candidates include YUTREPIA, an inhaled dry powder formulation of treprostinil for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD).