KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Acquires Shares of 14,400 Liquidia Co. (NASDAQ:LQDA)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Liquidia Co. (NASDAQ:LQDA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 14,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Liquidia by 265.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 99,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 72,591 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 855.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 235,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after acquiring an additional 210,753 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Liquidia by 144.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 390,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,903,000 after acquiring an additional 230,820 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Liquidia by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 188,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,218,000 after acquiring an additional 6,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Liquidia by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 80,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 2,741 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LQDA. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Liquidia from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $26.63.

Liquidia Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of LQDA stock opened at $11.99 on Wednesday. Liquidia Co. has a 12 month low of $8.26 and a 12 month high of $16.81. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.62. The stock has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.36 and a beta of 0.23.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $2.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.60 million. Liquidia had a negative net margin of 765.38% and a negative return on equity of 163.21%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Liquidia Co. will post -1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Liquidia news, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 6,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.78, for a total transaction of $73,613.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 270,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,185,170.64. This trade represents a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 23,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.78, for a total value of $275,298.60. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 71,245 shares of company stock valued at $843,326 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 30.10% of the company’s stock.

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).