WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) Raised to Hold at Wall Street Zen

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

WVE has been the topic of several other reports. B. Riley lifted their target price on WAVE Life Sciences from $19.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Wedbush lifted their price objective on WAVE Life Sciences from $20.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised WAVE Life Sciences from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of WAVE Life Sciences from $19.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $28.00 price target on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research note on Monday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WAVE Life Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.07.

WAVE Life Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WVE opened at $16.56 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $8.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.03. WAVE Life Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $5.28 and a fifty-two week high of $21.73. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.08 and a beta of -1.72.

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $7.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.85 million. WAVE Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 111.64% and a negative return on equity of 75.61%. As a group, research analysts predict that WAVE Life Sciences will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at WAVE Life Sciences

In related news, insider Chris Francis sold 441,031 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.57, for a total value of $6,425,821.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $364,250. This trade represents a 94.64% 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. Also, Director Christian O. Henry sold 93,445 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.65, for a total transaction of $1,368,969.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $186,055. This represents a 88.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 902,742 shares of company stock worth $13,313,763 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 23.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WAVE Life Sciences

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 678,144.7% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,750,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,455,000 after purchasing an additional 3,750,140 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in WAVE Life Sciences by 30.1% in the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 12,516,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,133,000 after buying an additional 2,894,396 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in WAVE Life Sciences by 35.3% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,295,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,422,000 after buying an additional 859,160 shares during the period. Stempoint Capital LP boosted its position in WAVE Life Sciences by 902.2% during the 2nd quarter. Stempoint Capital LP now owns 900,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,852,000 after acquiring an additional 810,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its position in WAVE Life Sciences by 1,489.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 540,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,956,000 after acquiring an additional 506,437 shares in the last quarter. 89.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WAVE Life Sciences Company Profile

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.