Atria Investments Inc Acquires Shares of 19,054 Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 19,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $548,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRNA. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its stake in Verona Pharma by 74.2% in the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,092,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,998 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. acquired a new position in Verona Pharma in the second quarter worth about $11,177,000. NEA Management Company LLC grew its stake in Verona Pharma by 9.3% in the second quarter. NEA Management Company LLC now owns 5,584,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,756,000 after purchasing an additional 476,190 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Verona Pharma by 56.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 878,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,697,000 after purchasing an additional 317,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. grew its stake in Verona Pharma by 10.0% in the second quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 3,314,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,925,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 245,784 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total transaction of $1,076,533.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 15,004,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,721,549.60. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 249,728 shares of the business’s 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 $1,093,808.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,089,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,714,024.80. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,141,944 shares of company stock valued at $5,004,952. Insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on VRNA. HC Wainwright lifted their price target on Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.83.

Verona Pharma Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRNA opened at $38.09 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 12.88, a current ratio of 13.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $32.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.87. Verona Pharma plc has a 52-week low of $11.39 and a 52-week high of $40.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.46 and a beta of 0.42.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.18) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Verona Pharma 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.