Insider Selling: Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) CFO Sells 249,728 Shares of Stock

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 249,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total value of $1,093,808.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,089,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,714,024.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Verona Pharma Stock Performance

Verona Pharma stock opened at $34.93 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.26. The company has a quick ratio of 8.61, a current ratio of 8.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Verona Pharma plc has a twelve month low of $11.39 and a twelve month high of $35.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of -45.36 and a beta of 0.44.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.35) by ($0.53). During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.11) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Verona Pharma

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRNA. NEA Management Company LLC increased its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 9.3% in the second 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 period. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Verona Pharma by 10.0% in the second quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 3,314,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,925,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 74.2% during the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,092,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,722,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,998 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 12.7% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,031,994 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,657,000 after purchasing an additional 228,633 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 0.5% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRNA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Verona Pharma in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Verona Pharma in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.33.

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.