Investors Purchase High Volume of Veru Call Options (NASDAQ:VERU)

Veru Inc. (NASDAQ:VERU) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 8,511 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 500% compared to the average daily volume of 1,418 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veru

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VERU. Perceptive Advisors LLC grew its stake in Veru by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 7,063,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,942,000 after buying an additional 1,478,578 shares during the last quarter. PVG Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Veru during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $474,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Veru by 1,718.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 443,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 419,374 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in Veru in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $161,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Veru by 309.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 184,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 139,617 shares during the last quarter. 47.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VERU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $3.00 price objective on shares of Veru in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Veru in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Veru Stock Performance

NASDAQ VERU opened at $1.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $0.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $0.80. Veru has a twelve month low of $0.36 and a twelve month high of $1.92. The stock has a market cap of $159.55 million, a PE ratio of -3.89 and a beta of -0.53.

Veru (NASDAQ:VERU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 16th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.01. Veru had a negative net margin of 223.85% and a negative return on equity of 92.88%. Research analysts forecast that Veru will post -0.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Veru

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.