HC Wainwright Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA)

HC Wainwright reiterated their buy rating on shares of Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $36.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Verona Pharma from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Verona Pharma from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Verona Pharma has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $36.00.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

VRNA stock opened at $29.78 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -38.68 and a beta of 0.44. Verona Pharma has a twelve month low of $11.39 and a twelve month high of $30.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.33. The company has a current ratio of 8.61, a quick ratio of 8.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.35) by ($0.53). During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.11) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verona Pharma will post -2.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verona Pharma

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its position in Verona Pharma by 74.2% in the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,092,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,722,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,998 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. purchased a new position in shares of Verona Pharma in the second quarter valued at $11,177,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verona Pharma by 62.1% in the fourth quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 1,377,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,390,000 after buying an additional 527,781 shares in the last quarter. NEA Management Company LLC increased its position in shares of Verona Pharma by 9.3% in the second quarter. NEA Management Company LLC now owns 5,584,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,756,000 after buying an additional 476,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Verona Pharma by 56.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 878,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,697,000 after buying an additional 317,184 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

Verona Pharma Company Profile

Verona Pharma plc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of respiratory diseases with unmet medical needs. The company's product candidate is ensifentrine, an inhaled and dual inhibitor of the phosphodiesterase (PDE) 3 and PDE4 enzymes that acts as both a bronchodilator and an anti-inflammatory agent in a single compound, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and cystic fibrosis.