Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA) Short Interest Down 34.2% in December

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, a decrease of 34.2% from the November 30th total of 3,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 891,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Verrica Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Brookline Capital Management reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. HC Wainwright lowered shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRCA. Simplify Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,041,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $335,000. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth approximately $89,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 512,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $744,000 after purchasing an additional 61,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth $87,000. Institutional investors own 42.45% of the company’s stock.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.3 %

Verrica Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $0.70 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.34. Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $0.61 and a one year high of $11.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.92 million, a P/E ratio of -0.38 and a beta of 1.40.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.49) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of ($1.78) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.53 million. Verrica Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 625.06% and a negative return on equity of 591.84%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verrica Pharmaceuticals will post -1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

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.