American Century Companies Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)

American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 280,126 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,566,000. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.35% of Verona Pharma at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. acquired a new position in Verona Pharma during the second quarter valued at approximately $49,000. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 30.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,432 shares of the company's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verona Pharma during the 2nd quarter worth $118,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the 1st quarter worth $143,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Verona Pharma in the third quarter valued at about $165,000. Institutional investors own 85.88% of the company's stock.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

VRNA stock traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $16.09. 309,348 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 515,525. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 33.33 and a quick ratio of 33.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of -23.32 and a beta of 0.42. Verona Pharma plc has a 52 week low of $11.83 and a 52 week high of $23.81. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $16.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.20.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by $0.07. As a group, analysts expect that Verona Pharma plc will post -1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on VRNA shares. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of Verona Pharma in a research note on Friday, March 1st. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Monday, March 4th.

Verona Pharma 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.