Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $43.83.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright increased their target price 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 upped their price target on shares of Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

VRNA stock opened at $38.01 on Friday. 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 $33.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.13. Verona Pharma has a 52-week low of $11.39 and a 52-week high of $40.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.79 and a beta of 0.42.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $5.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.18) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verona Pharma will post -2.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Verona Pharma

In other news, Director David R. Ebsworth acquired 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, for a total transaction of $188,928.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 920,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,416,014.40. The trade was a 4.47 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 249,728 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,089,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,714,024.80. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,141,944 shares of company stock worth $5,004,952 in the last 90 days. 4.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verona Pharma

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRNA. NEA Management Company LLC lifted its stake in Verona Pharma by 9.3% during the 2nd 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 period. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 36.3% during the 3rd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 4,215,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123,166 shares during the period. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 3,383,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,356,000 after purchasing an additional 69,601 shares during the period. Eventide Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Verona Pharma by 359.6% in the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 2,425,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,792,000 after buying an additional 1,898,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,031,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,657,000 after acquiring an additional 228,633 shares in the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.