Atria Investments Inc Acquires Shares of 19,054 Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 19,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $548,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VRNA. Cahill Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Rosalind Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Verona Pharma by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rosalind Advisors Inc. now owns 275,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,912,000 after buying an additional 25,000 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Verona Pharma by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 985,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,341,000 after buying an additional 45,500 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $611,000. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $169,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

Verona Pharma Trading Up 9.0 %

VRNA stock opened at $38.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.46 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 12.88, a current ratio of 13.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.87. Verona Pharma plc has a 52 week low of $11.39 and a 52 week high of $40.13.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS 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 period last year, the firm posted ($0.18) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.11 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Verona Pharma from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $43.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verona Pharma news, Director David R. Ebsworth purchased 39,360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.80 per share, with a total value of $188,928.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 920,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,416,014.40. This trade represents a 4.47 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 249,728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total transaction of $1,093,808.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,089,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,714,024.80. This trade represents a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,141,944 shares of company stock valued at $5,004,952. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

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.