Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)

WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders bought 5,553 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 40% compared to the average volume of 3,963 put options.

Insider Activity

In other WAVE Life Sciences news, insider Chandra Vargeese sold 3,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.45, for a total transaction of $43,416.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 408,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,490,908.70. This represents a 0.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Francis sold 33,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.05, for a total transaction of $499,569.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 61,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $931,098.35. The trade was a 34.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 61,748 shares of company stock valued at $907,809 in the last ninety days. 23.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GSK plc bought a new stake in shares of WAVE Life Sciences during the fourth quarter worth approximately $310,177,000. Darwin Global Management Ltd. bought a new position in WAVE Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $125,168,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in WAVE Life Sciences by 678,144.7% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,750,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,455,000 after acquiring an additional 3,750,140 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in WAVE Life Sciences by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,407,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,927,000 after acquiring an additional 3,362,880 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 15,016,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,607,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on WAVE Life Sciences from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on WAVE Life Sciences from $36.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Leerink Partners restated an “outperform” rating on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $28.00 price target on WAVE Life Sciences in a report on Monday, December 8th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WAVE Life Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.73.

WAVE Life Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ WVE opened at $11.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.52 and a beta of -1.77. WAVE Life Sciences has a 52 week low of $5.28 and a 52 week high of $21.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $13.33 and a 200-day moving average of $11.21.

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $17.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.68 million. WAVE Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 478.35% and a negative return on equity of 85.69%. Equities research analysts forecast that WAVE Life Sciences will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WAVE Life Sciences Company Profile

WAVE Life Sciences is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company focused on the discovery and development of stereopure oligonucleotide therapies designed to address serious diseases with high unmet medical need. Leveraging proprietary chemistry and precision synthesis, WAVE engineers drug candidates with defined stereochemistry to optimize potency, safety and manufacturability. This approach aims to enhance target specificity and improve therapeutic profiles compared with traditional oligonucleotide medicines.

The company’s pipeline includes programs in neuromuscular disorders such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and neurodegenerative conditions including Huntington’s disease, as well as early-stage cardiovascular and liver indications.