Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) Rating Lowered to “Sector Perform” at Royal Bank of Canada

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) was downgraded by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $2.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $11.00. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 167.99% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on VRCA. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $12.00 price target on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Brookline Capital Management restated a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.60.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 6.4 %

VRCA stock opened at $0.75 on Tuesday. Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $0.74 and a one year high of $11.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a current ratio of 2.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1.64 and its 200 day moving average is $5.14. The firm has a market cap of $31.84 million, a PE ratio of -0.41 and a beta of 1.45.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by ($0.12). Verrica Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 3,102.90% and a negative net margin of 625.06%. The business had revenue of ($1.78) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.53 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Verrica Pharmaceuticals will post -1.5 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verrica Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VRCA. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Key Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 20.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 26,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,000 after purchasing an additional 4,514 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth approximately $332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 8.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 58,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 4,393 shares during the last quarter. 42.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc, a clinical-stage dermatology therapeutics company, develops medications for the treatment of skin diseases in the United States. Its product pipeline comprises YCANTH (VP-102), which is in phase III clinical trial for the treatment of common warts; and has completed phase II clinical trial for the treatment of external genital warts.