Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Has $52.25 Million Stake in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC cut its holdings in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Free Report) by 13.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 823,012 shares of the company's stock after selling 131,604 shares during the period. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share makes up approximately 3.1% of Rice Hall James & Associates LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned approximately 1.02% of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share worth $52,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RTW Investments LP bought a new stake in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the 4th quarter valued at about $84,568,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 61.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,025,241 shares of the company's stock worth $140,492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146,609 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Global Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,637,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,019,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 59.9% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,667,165 shares of the company's stock worth $77,466,000 after buying an additional 624,370 shares during the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research downgraded Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Thursday. Cowen downgraded Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 price objective on Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price objective on Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $107.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 400,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 12,278,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $139,980,508.80. This represents a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Andrew Fisher sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.53, for a total transaction of $922,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 359,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,150,788.47. The trade was a 18.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,965,800 shares of company stock worth $20,056,881. Insiders own 4.80% of the company's stock.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ:VRNA opened at $104.83 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -52.42 and a beta of 0.24. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $83.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.97. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share has a 1 year low of $18.51 and a 1 year high of $104.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 8.86 and a quick ratio of 8.73.

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

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.

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