Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 59,399 Shares of WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) by 23.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 308,044 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,399 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.20% of WAVE Life Sciences worth $2,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WVE. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in WAVE Life Sciences by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 2,073 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in WAVE Life Sciences by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,308 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in WAVE Life Sciences in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 15,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 4,120 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 40,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,000 after acquiring an additional 4,351 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WVE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $16.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $10.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at WAVE Life Sciences

In other news, Director Gregory L. Verdine sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.95, for a total transaction of $208,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 282,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,963,493.15. The trade was a 9.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 23.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WAVE Life Sciences Price Performance

WAVE Life Sciences stock opened at $8.34 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.93 and a beta of -1.01. WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. has a 1-year low of $5.04 and a 1-year high of $16.74. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $6.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.60.

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $9.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.65 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.24) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.