Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,434 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRNA. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 61.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,025,241 shares of the company's stock valued at $140,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146,609 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,833,532 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,150,000 after acquiring an additional 498,338 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP bought a new position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share during the fourth quarter worth about $84,568,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,667,165 shares of the company's stock valued at $77,466,000 after acquiring an additional 624,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,485,256 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,975,000 after purchasing an additional 51,322 shares in the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Truist Financial downgraded Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $107.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $107.00 price target (down previously from $140.00) on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $107.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 400,000 shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,190,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at $150,367,915.20. The trade was a 2.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Andrew Fisher sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.53, for a total value of $922,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 359,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,150,788.47. This trade represents a 18.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,965,800 shares of company stock valued at $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 remained flat at $104.90 during trading on Monday. The stock had a trading volume of 2,726,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,727,039. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share has a 1-year low of $18.51 and a 1-year high of $105.30. The company has a current ratio of 8.86, a quick ratio of 8.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.93 billion, a PE ratio of -52.45 and a beta of 0.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.00.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $98.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.47 million. On average, research analysts expect that Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share will post -1.95 earnings per share 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.