Truist Financial Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Truist Financial in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $57.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $44.00. Truist Financial’s target price indicates a potential upside of 23.38% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Verona Pharma from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.67.

Verona Pharma Trading Down 6.8 %

NASDAQ VRNA opened at $46.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 13.03 and a quick ratio of 12.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.06 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $41.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.32. Verona Pharma has a 12 month low of $11.39 and a 12 month high of $51.80.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $5.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.18) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verona Pharma will post -2.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 183,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.01, for a total transaction of $920,477.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 13,293,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,601,617.36. The trade was a 1.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 110,456 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,894,464 shares in the company, valued at $65,237,752.32. This trade represents a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,094,432 shares of company stock worth $9,748,833 over the last 90 days. 4.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verona Pharma

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,758,000. PFG Investments LLC boosted its stake in Verona Pharma by 67.7% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 44,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 18,000 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its position in Verona Pharma by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 939,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,586,000 after purchasing an additional 263,819 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased 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 valued at $12,697,000 after purchasing an additional 317,184 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma in the second quarter valued at about $449,000. 85.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Verona Pharma

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.