Wave Life Sciences Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:WVE)

Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 2,253 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 533% compared to the typical volume of 356 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Plc Gsk purchased 2,791,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 16,775,691 shares in the company, valued at $134,205,528. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Kyle Moran sold 17,146 shares of Wave Life Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.00, for a total transaction of $154,314.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 19,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $177,993. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Plc Gsk bought 2,791,930 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 16,775,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,205,528. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 29.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Wave Life Sciences during the 4th quarter worth about $174,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Wave Life Sciences by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 274,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,384,000 after acquiring an additional 9,208 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Wave Life Sciences by 9.0% during the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 54,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Wave Life Sciences during the first quarter valued at approximately $586,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Wave Life Sciences by 2.7% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 156,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 4,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WVE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. B. Riley boosted their price target on shares of Wave Life Sciences from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Mizuho reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Wave Life Sciences from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Wave Life Sciences from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Wave Life Sciences in a research note on Friday, September 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $13.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wave Life Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.00.

Wave Life Sciences Stock Up 56.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WVE traded up $4.82 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $13.38. 7,289,611 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,018,745. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.04. Wave Life Sciences has a one year low of $3.50 and a one year high of $14.62. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.98 and a beta of -1.10.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by ($0.09). Wave Life Sciences had a negative return on equity of 1,395.99% and a negative net margin of 66.50%. The firm had revenue of $19.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.80 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Wave Life Sciences will post -1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.