Aigen Investment Management LP Purchases New Shares in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Key Points

• Aigen Investment Management LP has acquired 10,044 shares of Verona Pharma PLC, valued at approximately $638,000, marking a new investment in the company.
• Several analysts downgraded Verona Pharma's stock from "strong-buy" to "hold," resulting in a consensus rating of "hold" with a price target of $109.00.
• Insider trades revealed that CFO Mark W. Hahn and CEO David Zaccardelli each sold 400,000 shares on June 11th for $4,560,000, reflecting a decrease in their ownership of the company.

Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,044 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $638,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 14.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 17,958 shares of the company's stock valued at $834,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Advisors Preferred LLC boosted its holdings in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 65.4% in the first quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC now owns 1,599 shares of the company's stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 62,741 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,914,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research cut Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Truist Financial cut Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler cut Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Cowen cut Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $107.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 400,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.40, for a total value of $4,560,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,278,992 shares in the company, valued at $139,980,508.80. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 400,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.40, for a total value of $4,560,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 13,190,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,367,915.20. This trade represents a 2.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,220,584 shares of company stock valued at $24,613,268 in the last three months. Insiders own 4.80% of the company's stock.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Stock Down 0.0%

NASDAQ:VRNA opened at $105.24 on Tuesday. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share has a 1 year low of $22.50 and a 1 year high of $105.50. The company has a current ratio of 10.71, a quick ratio of 10.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $8.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -106.30 and a beta of 0.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $97.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.18.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.14. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share had a negative return on equity of 21.12% and a negative net margin of 36.62%. The firm had revenue of $103.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $90.41 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share will post -1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share 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.

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