Insider Buying: Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) Director Buys 39,360 Shares of Stock

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) Director David R. Ebsworth purchased 39,360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.80 per share, with a total value of $188,928.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 920,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,416,014.40. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Verona Pharma Stock Performance

Shares of VRNA traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $38.18. 623,299 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 922,198. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.59. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.89 and a beta of 0.42. Verona Pharma plc has a twelve month low of $11.39 and a twelve month high of $39.40. 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 (NASDAQ:VRNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $5.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.18) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verona Pharma

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NEA Management Company LLC raised its holdings in Verona Pharma by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. NEA Management Company LLC now owns 5,584,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,756,000 after acquiring an additional 476,190 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its position in Verona Pharma by 74.2% during the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,092,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,998 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in 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, Bellevue Group AG grew its stake in Verona Pharma by 35.6% during the first quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 1,139,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,331,000 after buying an additional 299,299 shares in the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Verona Pharma from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. HC Wainwright increased their price target on Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Verona Pharma currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.83.

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.