Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $64.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Verona Pharma traded as high as $39.40 and last traded at $39.35, with a volume of 398136 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.15.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on VRNA. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Verona Pharma presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verona Pharma news, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 110,456 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total value of $483,797.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,894,464 shares in the company, valued at $65,237,752.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Verona Pharma news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 116,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total transaction of $511,128.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,973,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,202,896.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 110,456 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total value of $483,797.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,894,464 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,237,752.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 868,840 shares of company stock valued at $3,805,519 in the last ninety days. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verona Pharma

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRNA. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its position in Verona Pharma by 74.2% in the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,092,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $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 2nd quarter valued at about $11,177,000. NEA Management Company LLC grew its position in shares of Verona Pharma by 9.3% during the second quarter. NEA Management Company LLC now owns 5,584,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,756,000 after buying an additional 476,190 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 56.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 878,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,697,000 after buying an additional 317,184 shares during the period. Finally, Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 10.0% during the second quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 3,314,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,925,000 after buying an additional 300,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

Verona Pharma Trading Up 2.5 %

The company has a quick ratio of 8.61, a current ratio of 8.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.06 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $30.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.33.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $5.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.18) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Verona Pharma

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.