Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) Lowered to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Wednesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Wave Life Sciences from $11.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Wave Life Sciences from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Wave Life Sciences from $13.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Wave Life Sciences from $7.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Wave Life Sciences from $17.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.89.

Wave Life Sciences Trading Down 8.9 %

Wave Life Sciences stock opened at $13.67 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.52. Wave Life Sciences has a 12 month low of $3.50 and a 12 month high of $16.74. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.32 and a beta of -1.20.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by ($0.19). Wave Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 66.50% and a negative return on equity of 280.57%. The firm had revenue of ($7.68) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.45 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wave Life Sciences will post -1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Paul Bolno sold 48,366 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.78, for a total value of $279,555.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 359,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,075,361.02. This represents a 11.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Plc Gsk acquired 2,791,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 16,775,691 shares in the company, valued at $134,205,528. The trade was a 19.97 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 452,056 shares of company stock worth $5,955,438 in the last ninety days. 29.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wave Life Sciences

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Wave Life Sciences by 23.4% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,512 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Wave Life Sciences by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 7,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,451 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC bought a new position in Wave Life Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Wave Life Sciences during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $98,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Wave Life Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $74,000. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Wave Life Sciences

Wave Life Sciences Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, designs, develops, and commercializes ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines through PRISM, a discovery and drug development platform. The company's RNA medicines platform, PRISM, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights into human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders.