Brokers Issue Forecasts for Verona Pharma FY2024 Earnings

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) – Research analysts at HC Wainwright lowered their FY2024 EPS estimates for Verona Pharma in a report released on Tuesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright analyst R. Selvaraju now expects that the company will earn ($2.16) per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of ($2.00). HC Wainwright has a “Buy” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Verona Pharma’s current full-year earnings is ($2.07) per share. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Verona Pharma’s Q1 2025 earnings at ($0.40) EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.40) EPS and FY2025 earnings at ($1.36) EPS.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $5.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.18) earnings per share.

VRNA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $43.83.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

Verona Pharma stock opened at $38.18 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.89 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $31.28 and its 200 day moving average is $22.59. The company has a quick ratio of 8.61, a current ratio of 8.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Verona Pharma has a 52-week low of $11.39 and a 52-week high of $39.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verona Pharma news, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 110,456 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total transaction of $483,797.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,894,464 shares in the company, valued at $65,237,752.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 249,728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total value of $1,093,808.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,089,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,714,024.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 110,456 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total transaction of $483,797.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,894,464 shares in the company, valued at $65,237,752.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,139,544 shares of company stock worth $4,992,952 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verona Pharma

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. NEA Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. NEA Management Company LLC now owns 5,584,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,756,000 after buying an additional 476,190 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 3,314,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,925,000 after buying an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 74.2% in the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,092,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,722,000 after buying an additional 1,316,998 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,031,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,657,000 after buying an additional 228,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Group AG raised its position in shares of Verona Pharma by 35.6% in the 1st quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 1,139,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,331,000 after purchasing an additional 299,299 shares during the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verona Pharma Company Profile

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.