Trexquant Investment LP Buys 40,913 Shares of Vera Therapeutics, Inc. $VERA

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP significantly increased its stake in Vera Therapeutics, boosting ownership by 187.1%, acquiring an additional 40,913 shares during the first quarter.
• Vera Therapeutics has received favorable analyst ratings, with a consensus of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $63.00.
• Vera Therapeutics reported earnings of ($1.20) per share, missing estimates, and anticipates posting -2.89 EPS for the current year.

Trexquant Investment LP boosted its stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA - Free Report) by 187.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,777 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 40,913 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned about 0.10% of Vera Therapeutics worth $1,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics by 5.8% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,061 shares of the company's stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Vera Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics by 19.7% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics by 1.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 143,665 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 13,550 shares of the company's stock valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. 99.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vera Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERA traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $24.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,008,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,909,494. Vera Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.53 and a fifty-two week high of $51.61. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.85 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 17.03 and a quick ratio of 17.03. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $22.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.28.

Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.82) by ($0.38). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.62) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vera Therapeutics, Inc. will post -2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Patrick G. Enright acquired 40,607 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $22.35 per share, for a total transaction of $907,566.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,596,593 shares in the company, valued at $80,383,853.55. This trade represents a 1.14% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 16.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on VERA shares. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wolfe Research reiterated a "peer perform" rating on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Vera Therapeutics from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vera Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.00.

Vera Therapeutics Company Profile

Vera Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing and commercializing treatments for patients with serious immunological diseases. Its lead product candidate is atacicept, a fusion protein self-administered as a subcutaneous injection that is in Phase III clinical trial for patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy; and for treatment of lupus nephritis that is in Phase II clinical trial.