Barclays PLC Purchases 25,130 Shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA)

Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA) by 404.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,341 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,130 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Verrica Pharmaceuticals were worth $45,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 4,393 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 26,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,000 after acquiring an additional 4,514 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth approximately $332,000. Finally, Simplify Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,041,000. 42.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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 report on Monday, October 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 20th. HC Wainwright downgraded Verrica Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Brookline Capital Management reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $11.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.50.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 6.7 %

NASDAQ:VRCA opened at $0.70 on Friday. Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a one year low of $0.61 and a one year high of $11.41. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $0.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.38 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.49) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by ($0.12). Verrica Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 591.84% and a negative net margin of 625.06%. The company had revenue of ($1.78) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.53 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post -1.42 EPS for the current year.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals 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.