HC Wainwright Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $22.00 price target on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective points to a potential upside of 46.67% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Raymond James raised Wave Life Sciences from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Wave Life Sciences from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Wave Life Sciences from $17.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Wave Life Sciences from $13.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Wave Life Sciences from $11.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.89.

Wave Life Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:WVE opened at $15.00 on Wednesday. Wave Life Sciences has a one year low of $3.50 and a one year high of $16.74. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.54 and a beta of -1.20.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by ($0.19). The company had revenue of ($7.68) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.45 million. Wave Life Sciences had a negative return on equity of 694.73% and a negative net margin of 66.50%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Wave Life Sciences will post -1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Francis sold 208,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.67, for a total value of $2,854,788.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Plc Gsk bought 2,791,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,205,528. The trade was a 19.97 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 400,822 shares of company stock valued at $5,221,768 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 29.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wave Life Sciences

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 10,047,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,390,000 after acquiring an additional 2,378,159 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Wave Life Sciences during the third quarter worth $4,940,000. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its position in Wave Life Sciences by 25.6% during the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 111,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $912,000 after acquiring an additional 22,652 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 71.1% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 39,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 16,235 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 477.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 41,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 34,588 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.73% of the company’s stock.

About Wave Life Sciences

Wave Life Sciences Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, designs, develops, and commercializes ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines through PRISM, a discovery and drug development platform. The company's RNA medicines platform, PRISM, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights into human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders.