Verona Pharma’s (VRNA) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) in a research note released on Wednesday morning, RTT News reports. They currently have a $33.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $30.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on VRNA. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a buy rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Friday, September 1st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial upped their target price on Verona Pharma from $28.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 7th. Finally, 500.com reaffirmed a reiterates rating on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verona Pharma presently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $32.60.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRNA opened at $18.30 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $19.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.53. The company has a market cap of $11.63 billion, a PE ratio of -24.40 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a quick ratio of 26.29, a current ratio of 26.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Verona Pharma has a twelve month low of $8.41 and a twelve month high of $26.44.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.16. On average, analysts predict that Verona Pharma will post -0.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Verona Pharma

In other Verona Pharma news, General Counsel Claire Poll sold 18,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.68, for a total transaction of $49,869.44. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 1,968,783 shares in the company, valued at $5,276,338.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Claire Poll sold 18,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.68, for a total transaction of $49,869.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 1,968,783 shares in the company, valued at $5,276,338.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 73,704 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.59, for a total transaction of $190,893.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 16,707,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,272,911.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 568,200 shares of company stock worth $1,460,799. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. RA Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 6,317,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,089,000 after buying an additional 267,990 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Verona Pharma by 110.1% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,567,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,709,000 after purchasing an additional 2,393,033 shares during the period. Fairmount Funds Management LLC increased its holdings in Verona Pharma by 8.8% in the first quarter. Fairmount Funds Management LLC now owns 3,127,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,799,000 after purchasing an additional 251,903 shares during the period. Carlyle Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Verona Pharma in the first quarter valued at $49,347,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Verona Pharma by 35.0% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,388,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,356,000 after purchasing an additional 359,665 shares during the period. 9.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.