Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on WVE. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on Wave Life Sciences from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Wave Life Sciences from $13.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Wave Life Sciences from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Raymond James raised shares of Wave Life Sciences from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wave Life Sciences currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.89.

Wave Life Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WVE opened at $13.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.32 and a beta of -1.20. Wave Life Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $3.50 and a fifty-two week high of $16.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.52.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by ($0.19). The company had revenue of ($7.68) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.45 million. Wave Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 66.50% and a negative return on equity of 280.57%. Research analysts predict that Wave Life Sciences will post -1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Wave Life Sciences news, CEO Paul Bolno sold 51,234 shares of Wave Life Sciences stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.32, for a total transaction of $733,670.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 217,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,112,466.32. The trade was a 19.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Plc Gsk bought 2,791,930 shares of Wave Life Sciences stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,205,528. This represents a 19.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 452,056 shares of company stock worth $5,955,438 in the last quarter. Insiders own 29.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wave Life Sciences

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 171.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 159,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after acquiring an additional 100,498 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Wave Life Sciences during the third quarter worth $123,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Wave Life Sciences in the third quarter worth $126,000. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in Wave Life Sciences by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 142,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after purchasing an additional 35,472 shares during the period. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences during the 3rd quarter valued at $164,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.73% of the company’s stock.

Wave Life Sciences Company Profile

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.