Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) Trading Up 5.9% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) shot up 5.9% on Thursday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $38.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Verona Pharma traded as high as $16.06 and last traded at $15.56. 7,913,243 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 999% from the average session volume of 719,714 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.69.

VRNA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 target price on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their target price on Verona Pharma from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verona Pharma news, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 36,248 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.96, for a total transaction of $71,046.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,621,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,138,241.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verona Pharma

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 95.1% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 426,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,959,000 after acquiring an additional 208,100 shares during the period. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC now owns 504,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,034,000 after buying an additional 86,809 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 53.1% in the 4th quarter. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC now owns 563,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,209,000 after buying an additional 195,495 shares in the last quarter. First Turn Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma in the fourth quarter valued at $23,981,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new position in Verona Pharma during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,949,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

Verona Pharma Trading Down 6.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 18.40 and a quick ratio of 18.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.78 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a fifty day moving average of $14.07 and a 200-day moving average of $16.12.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by ($0.08). On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verona Pharma plc will post -1.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.