Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share $VRNA Shares Sold by Maverick Capital Ltd.

Key Points

• Maverick Capital Ltd. reduced its stake in Verona Pharma PLC by 43%, selling over 1.3 million shares, which now represents about 2% of their total portfolio.
• Multiple analysts downgraded Verona Pharma's stock rating from "strong-buy" to "hold", while Cantor Fitzgerald set a new target price of $100.
• Verona Pharma reported strong quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $0.13 against an expected loss, and revenues of $103.14 million, surpassing analyst predictions.

Maverick Capital Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Free Report) by 43.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,783,498 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,345,018 shares during the quarter. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share makes up about 2.0% of Maverick Capital Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Maverick Capital Ltd. owned 2.20% of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share worth $113,234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share during the first quarter worth about $284,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 366.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,486 shares of the company's stock valued at $720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,021 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 14.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp acquired a new stake in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the fourth quarter valued at about $362,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 113.4% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,265 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 12,362 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.88% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

In other Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 208,912 shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total value of $2,745,103.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,464,968 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $163,789,679.52. The trade was a 1.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 58,336 shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total transaction of $766,535.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,607,472 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,262,182.08. The trade was a 2.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,420,584 shares of company stock worth $17,145,674 in the last three months. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRNA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Truist Financial downgraded 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. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. TD Cowen downgraded 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. Finally, Cowen downgraded shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.00.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Price Performance

Shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Thursday, hitting $106.24. 1,154,250 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,210,783. The company has a quick ratio of 10.54, a current ratio of 10.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share has a fifty-two week low of $24.50 and a fifty-two week high of $106.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -107.31 and a beta of 0.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $103.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.71.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.14. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share had a negative return on equity of 21.12% and a negative net margin of 36.62%.The firm had revenue of $103.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.41 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share will post -1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.