Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) CEO Sells $1,076,533.92 in Stock

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) CEO David Zaccardelli sold 245,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total transaction of $1,076,533.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,004,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,721,549.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

David Zaccardelli also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, October 21st, David Zaccardelli sold 110,456 shares of Verona Pharma stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total transaction of $483,797.28.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

Shares of VRNA opened at $34.87 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.29 and a beta of 0.44. Verona Pharma plc has a twelve month low of $11.39 and a twelve month high of $35.62. The company has a quick ratio of 8.61, a current ratio of 8.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.16.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.35) by ($0.53). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.11) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verona Pharma

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRNA. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 71.4% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 67,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 28,071 shares during the period. Matisse Capital purchased a new position in shares of Verona Pharma during the first quarter worth $312,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 1,054.4% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 21,384 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verona Pharma during the first quarter worth $412,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 0.5% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,593,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,645,000 after purchasing an additional 8,448 shares during the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VRNA. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Verona Pharma in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.33.

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.