Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) Receives Buy Rating from HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright restated their buy rating on shares of Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $42.00. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Verona Pharma’s Q1 2025 earnings at ($0.24) EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.08) EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.08 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.16 EPS and FY2025 earnings at ($0.08) EPS.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Verona Pharma from $64.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 price target (up from $44.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Roth Mkm started coverage on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Roth Capital raised shares of Verona Pharma to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.14.

Verona Pharma Stock Down 1.1 %

Verona Pharma stock opened at $54.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.17 and a beta of 0.40. Verona Pharma has a 52-week low of $11.39 and a 52-week high of $55.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 12.88 and a current ratio of 13.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $43.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.65.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $5.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.18) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Verona Pharma will post -1.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 80,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.39, for a total value of $354,641.76. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,293,736 shares in the company, valued at $62,749,501.04. This trade represents a 0.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 46,888 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total value of $205,369.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,298,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,009,164.48. The trade was a 0.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,225,592 shares of company stock worth $5,943,314 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verona Pharma

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRNA. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma in the 2nd quarter valued at about $449,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Verona Pharma in the second quarter valued at approximately $195,000. NEA Management Company LLC increased 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 valued at $80,756,000 after acquiring an additional 476,190 shares during the last quarter. Alerce Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in Verona Pharma during the second quarter worth $3,080,000. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 1,316,998 shares during the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.