Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Trading Up 3.3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Liquidia Co. (NASDAQ:LQDA) shares were up 3.3% on Thursday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $34.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Liquidia traded as high as $15.45 and last traded at $15.42. Approximately 549,711 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 928,447 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.92.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on LQDA. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Liquidia from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $26.63.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In other Liquidia news, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 2,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.00, for a total transaction of $31,785.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 267,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,483,259. This represents a 0.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 23,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.78, for a total transaction of $275,298.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 401,755 shares in the company, valued at $4,732,673.90. The trade was a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 71,245 shares of company stock valued at $843,326 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 30.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Liquidia by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,557,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,834,000 after purchasing an additional 115,367 shares in the last quarter. LM Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the fourth quarter worth $25,948,000. Whitefort Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Liquidia by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Whitefort Capital Management LP now owns 1,987,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,370,000 after acquiring an additional 285,220 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Liquidia by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 1,760,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,698,000 after acquiring an additional 260,000 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Liquidia by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,339,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,753,000 after acquiring an additional 101,597 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Stock Up 3.5 %

The stock has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.47 and a beta of 0.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $14.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.14.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $2.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 million. Liquidia had a negative return on equity of 163.21% and a negative net margin of 765.38%. On average, analysts predict that Liquidia Co. will post -1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liquidia Company Profile

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).