Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Increases Stock Position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share $VRNA

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Verona Pharma PLC by 1.8% in Q1, holding 1,866,280 shares valued at $118.49 million.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed views on VRNA, with two analysts rating it as a Buy and twelve as a Hold, reflecting caution as price targets range from previous $90.00 to $109.00.
• Verona Pharma reported a quarterly EPS of $0.13, exceeding expectations, with revenue of $103.14 million, significantly higher than the forecasted $90.41 million.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,866,280 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 32,748 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 2.30% of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share worth $118,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRNA. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $58,716,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the 1st quarter valued at about $698,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share during the 1st quarter valued at about $108,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. acquired a new position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share during the first quarter worth about $5,549,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the first quarter valued at about $638,000. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VRNA. HC Wainwright restated a "neutral" rating and set a $107.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Roth Capital downgraded Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Zacks Research upgraded Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Truist Financial lowered shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.00.

Insider Activity at Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

In other news, Director Michael Austwick sold 11,288 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total value of $148,324.32. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,712 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $167,035.68. This trade represents a 47.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 208,912 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total transaction of $2,745,103.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,376,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $175,762,532.16. This trade represents a 1.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,420,584 shares of company stock valued at $17,145,674 over the last three months. Insiders own 4.80% of the company's stock.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Trading Up 0.0%

VRNA stock traded up $0.03 on Friday, hitting $105.91. 712,567 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,439,097. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 10.71 and a quick ratio of 10.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -106.98 and a beta of 0.12. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share has a twelve month low of $24.50 and a twelve month high of $105.98. The business's fifty day moving average is $102.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.65.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.14. The company had revenue of $103.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $90.41 million. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share had a negative net margin of 36.62% and a negative return on equity of 21.12%. As a group, research analysts forecast 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.