Key Points
- Liquidia CEO Roger Jeffs sold 25,000 shares on May 19 at an average price of $58.65, totaling about $1.47 million. The sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, and Jeffs still owns over 1.14 million shares.
- Jeffs has been consistently trimming his stake with multiple recent sales of 25,000 shares each in May and additional larger sales in April. The latest transaction lowered his ownership by about 2.13%.
- Liquidia’s stock has surged sharply, opening at $61.77 and sitting near its 52-week high of $62.17. The company also reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while analysts currently rate the stock a “Moderate Buy.”
Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) Director Caligan Partners Lp acquired 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.98 per share, for a total transaction of $317,894.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 8,138,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $488,174,280.98. This trade represents a 0.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.
Liquidia Stock Up 3.0%
LQDA opened at $61.77 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $41.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.81. The company has a market cap of $5.49 billion, a PE ratio of 441.25 and a beta of 0.41. Liquidia Corporation has a 1 year low of $11.85 and a 1 year high of $62.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22.
Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 46.82%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.
Institutional Trading of Liquidia
Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 360,372 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Liquidia by 25.0% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 72,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,734,000 after acquiring an additional 14,485 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,650,000. Eversept Partners LP grew its position in Liquidia by 33.0% in the first quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 677,392 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,565,000 after acquiring an additional 167,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Liquidia by 63.3% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 58,265 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 22,592 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts recently issued reports on LQDA shares. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Liquidia from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Liquidia from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.33.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Liquidia
About Liquidia
(
Get Free Report)
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).
Featured Articles
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from InsiderTrades.com in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
