Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) Stock Price Up 4.5% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) rose 4.5% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $47.47 and last traded at $47.24. Approximately 215,435 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 1,811,430 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRNA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Verona Pharma from $64.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Roth Capital raised Verona Pharma to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective (up from $44.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verona Pharma has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $50.57.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.75. The company has a current ratio of 13.03, a quick ratio of 12.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.22 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $5.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.18) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Verona Pharma

In related news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 12,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $64,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,276,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,380,000. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 162,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.01, for a total transaction of $815,628.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,204,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,165,807.52. This trade represents a 1.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,094,432 shares of company stock valued at $9,748,833. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRNA. First Turn Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma during the third quarter valued at about $16,483,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position 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 buying an additional 307,272 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma during the third quarter valued at about $849,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma during the third quarter valued at about $465,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma during the second quarter valued at about $859,000. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.