HC Wainwright Upgrades Savara (NASDAQ:SVRA) to “Buy”

Savara (NASDAQ:SVRA) was upgraded by equities researchers at HC Wainwright from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $5.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $2.00. HC Wainwright’s target price points to a potential upside of 64.47% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Savara from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Savara from $3.00 to $2.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price target (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Savara in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.17.

Savara Stock Up 1.0%

SVRA opened at $3.04 on Friday. Savara has a fifty-two week low of $1.89 and a fifty-two week high of $4.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 11.08 and a quick ratio of 14.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $2.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.66. The company has a market capitalization of $525.43 million, a P/E ratio of -6.08 and a beta of 0.40.

Savara (NASDAQ:SVRA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.02). On average, analysts anticipate that Savara will post -0.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Savara

In related news, Director Richard J. Hawkins purchased 48,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $2.04 per share, with a total value of $98,379.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 115,466 shares in the company, valued at $235,550.64. The trade was a 71.72% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 5.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Savara

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. VR Adviser LLC grew its position in shares of Savara by 172.7% in the 2nd quarter. VR Adviser LLC now owns 8,884,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,256,000 after purchasing an additional 5,626,624 shares during the period. Bain Capital Life Sciences Investors LLC grew its position in shares of Savara by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. Bain Capital Life Sciences Investors LLC now owns 17,600,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,754,000 after purchasing an additional 3,035,164 shares during the period. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Savara by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 11,462,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,801,922 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP grew its position in shares of Savara by 33.2% in the 4th quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 10,775,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,079,000 after purchasing an additional 2,685,000 shares during the period. Finally, Nantahala Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Savara by 45.2% in the 4th quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 7,525,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,344,308 shares during the period. 87.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Savara

Savara Inc, formerly Mast Therapeutics, Inc, is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of patients with rare respiratory diseases. Its pipeline includes AeroVanc, Molgradex and AIR001. AeroVanc is an inhaled formulation of vancomycin, which the Company is developing for the treatment of persistent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, lung infection in cystic fibrosis patients.