Ikarian Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in Veru Inc. (NASDAQ:VERU)

Ikarian Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Veru Inc. (NASDAQ:VERU) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 946,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VERU. Worth Venture Partners LLC bought a new position in Veru in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $616,000. AIGH Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Veru in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,476,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Veru in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $360,000. Octagon Capital Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Veru during the 4th quarter valued at $2,736,000. Finally, Perceptive Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veru by 412.4% during the 4th quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 5,584,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,021,000 after buying an additional 4,494,821 shares during the period. 47.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Veru

In other Veru news, CEO Mitchell Shuster Steiner sold 84,021 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.50, for a total value of $126,031.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 7,100,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,651,119. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 181,970 shares of company stock worth $250,075 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 14.20% of the company’s stock.

Veru Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERU traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $0.89. The company had a trading volume of 560,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,165,521. The company has a market cap of $130.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.61 and a beta of -0.43. Veru Inc. has a 12-month low of $0.36 and a 12-month high of $1.92. The company has a fifty day moving average of $0.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $0.88.

Veru (NASDAQ:VERU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $4.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.00 million. Veru had a negative return on equity of 130.13% and a negative net margin of 265.27%. Research analysts expect that Veru Inc. will post -0.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VERU shares. B. Riley started coverage on Veru in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $5.00 price target on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $3.00 price target on shares of Veru in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $5.00 price target (down from $7.00) on shares of Veru in a report on Monday, April 15th.

Veru Company Profile

Veru Inc, a late clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing medicines for treatment of metabolic diseases, oncology, and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Its marketed products comprise FC2 female condom for the dual protection against unplanned pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections.