Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) shares hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $55.91 and last traded at $55.36, with a volume of 712009 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VRNA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Tuesday. Roth Capital raised shares of Verona Pharma to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 target price (up from $44.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Roth Mkm assumed coverage on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $53.14.

Verona Pharma Trading Up 2.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 12.88 and a current ratio of 13.03. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.50. The stock has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.47 and a beta of 0.40.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $5.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.18) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Verona Pharma plc will post -1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Verona Pharma news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 12,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total transaction of $64,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,276,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,380,000. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 240,000 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.90, for a total transaction of $1,176,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,671,480 shares in the company, valued at $13,090,252. This represents a 8.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,371,752 shares of company stock worth $6,583,495 in the last quarter. 4.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verona Pharma

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. NEA Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. NEA Management Company LLC now owns 5,584,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,756,000 after buying an additional 476,190 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its holdings in Verona Pharma by 36.3% during the third quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 4,215,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123,166 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Verona Pharma by 2.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 3,383,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,356,000 after purchasing an additional 69,601 shares during the last quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verona Pharma by 359.6% during the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 2,425,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,898,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Verona Pharma by 19.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,878,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,048,000 after purchasing an additional 307,272 shares during the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verona Pharma Company Profile

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.