Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $64.00 to $74.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Verona Pharma traded as high as $51.80 and last traded at $49.55, with a volume of 4240575 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $44.81.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on VRNA. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price (up from $44.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a research note on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their price target on shares of Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Verona Pharma has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.67.

Insider Activity at Verona Pharma

In related news, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 162,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.01, for a total value of $815,628.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,204,752 shares in the company, valued at $71,165,807.52. This represents a 1.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 240,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.90, for a total transaction of $1,176,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,671,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,090,252. The trade was a 8.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,094,432 shares of company stock worth $9,748,833 in the last 90 days. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verona Pharma

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Turn Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the 3rd quarter worth $16,483,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Verona Pharma by 19.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,878,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,048,000 after buying an additional 307,272 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verona Pharma in the third quarter worth about $849,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the third quarter valued at approximately $465,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Verona Pharma in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $859,000. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verona Pharma Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.32. The company has a current ratio of 13.03, a quick ratio of 12.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of -24.06 and a beta of 0.40.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $5.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.18) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.11 earnings per share 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.