Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Verve Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERV) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $17.00 to $15.00. The stock had previously closed at $6.17, but opened at $5.86. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Verve Therapeutics shares last traded at $5.93, with a volume of 651,003 shares traded.

VERV has been the topic of a number of other research reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Verve Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 21st. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Verve Therapeutics from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Verve Therapeutics from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.50.

Institutional Trading of Verve Therapeutics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Verve Therapeutics by 139.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 222,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 129,944 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Verve Therapeutics by 27.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,586,000 after acquiring an additional 903,809 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP purchased a new stake in Verve Therapeutics in the third quarter worth about $3,020,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verve Therapeutics by 28.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 572,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,769,000 after purchasing an additional 126,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verve Therapeutics by 465.4% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 35,214 shares during the last quarter. 97.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verve Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $518.14 million, a P/E ratio of -2.49 and a beta of 1.74. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $6.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.04.

Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.58) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.72) by $0.14. The company had revenue of $13.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.94 million. Verve Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 807.65% and a negative return on equity of 35.23%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verve Therapeutics, Inc. will post -2.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verve Therapeutics Company Profile

Verve Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage genetic medicines company, engages in developing gene editing medicines for patients to treat cardiovascular diseases in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is VERVE-101, a single-course gene editing treatment that permanently turns off the PCSK9 gene in the liver; and VERVE-102, a product candidate that targets the PCSK9 gene for the treatment of HeFH.