Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) Receives $50.57 Average PT from Analysts

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $50.57.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Roth Capital raised Verona Pharma to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 target price (up previously from $44.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. HC Wainwright upped their target price on Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Verona Pharma from $64.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verona Pharma

In other Verona Pharma news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 12,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total transaction of $64,680.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,276,000 shares in the company, valued at $71,380,000. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 245,784 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total value of $1,076,533.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 15,004,920 shares in the company, valued at $65,721,549.60. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,094,432 shares of company stock worth $9,748,833 over the last quarter. 4.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verona Pharma

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Turn Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $16,483,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Verona Pharma by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,878,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,048,000 after purchasing an additional 307,272 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $849,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Verona Pharma in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $465,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Verona Pharma in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $859,000. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

VRNA stock opened at $46.69 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.98. Verona Pharma has a 12-month low of $11.39 and a 12-month high of $51.80. The company has a current ratio of 13.03, a quick ratio of 12.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of -24.32 and a beta of 0.40.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $5.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.18) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Verona Pharma will post -2.11 EPS for the current year.

About Verona Pharma

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.