CenterBook Partners LP Buys Shares of 9,480 Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA)

CenterBook Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $602,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the first quarter worth $422,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 68.3% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 50,533 shares of the company's stock worth $3,208,000 after acquiring an additional 20,500 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 6.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,718 shares of the company's stock worth $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the first quarter worth $201,000. Finally, Advisors Preferred LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.88% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share news, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 400,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.40, for a total transaction of $4,560,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 13,190,168 shares in the company, valued at $150,367,915.20. This trade represents a 2.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 114,984 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.82, for a total value of $1,014,158.88. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,546,472 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,459,883.04. This represents a 4.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,965,800 shares of company stock worth $20,056,881. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company's stock.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRNA traded up $0.02 during trading on Monday, hitting $104.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,527,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,310,169. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 8.73 and a current ratio of 8.86. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share has a 12 month low of $18.51 and a 12 month high of $105.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -52.46 and a beta of 0.24.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.49. The company had revenue of $98.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.47 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share will post -1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Roth Capital 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 report on Wednesday, July 9th. 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 on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, TD Cowen cut Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $109.00.

About Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

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.