Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA) Cut to Hold at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research cut shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also commented on VRNA. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $138.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $107.00 price target (down previously from $140.00) on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research lowered Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.45.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRNA opened at $104.83 on Thursday. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share has a 52 week low of $18.51 and a 52 week high of $104.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.92 billion, a PE ratio of -52.42 and a beta of 0.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 8.73 and a current ratio of 8.86.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.49. The business had revenue of $98.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.47 million. Analysts predict that Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share will post -1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

In other news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.40, for a total value of $4,560,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,278,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $139,980,508.80. This represents a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 114,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.82, for a total value of $1,014,158.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,546,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,459,883.04. This trade represents a 4.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,965,800 shares of company stock valued at $20,056,881 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRNA. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. increased its position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 2.2% in the first quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 3,457,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,539,000 after buying an additional 73,900 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 61.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,025,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,492,000 after buying an additional 1,146,609 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 1.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,866,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,491,000 after buying an additional 32,748 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the fourth quarter worth $84,568,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,667,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,466,000 after buying an additional 624,370 shares during the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

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.