Traders Purchase High Volume of Verona Pharma Put Options (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders bought 12,870 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 241% compared to the typical volume of 3,774 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VRNA. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Verona Pharma from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on Verona Pharma from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Roth Capital set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Verona Pharma from $93.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Cowen started coverage on shares of Verona Pharma in a research note on Monday, April 28th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $87.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verona Pharma

In other Verona Pharma news, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 114,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.82, for a total value of $1,014,158.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,546,472 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,459,883.04. This trade represents a 4.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Vikas Sinha sold 20,000 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.92, for a total transaction of $178,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 74,440 shares in the company, valued at $664,004.80. This trade represents a 21.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,885,800 shares of company stock worth $19,134,481 in the last 90 days. 4.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verona Pharma

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 2.2% during the first quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 3,457,850 shares of the company's stock worth $219,539,000 after acquiring an additional 73,900 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Verona Pharma by 61.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,866,280 shares of the company's stock worth $118,491,000 after purchasing an additional 32,748 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the 4th quarter valued at about $84,568,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,667,165 shares of the company's stock valued at $77,466,000 after buying an additional 624,370 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.88% of the company's stock.

Verona Pharma Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of VRNA traded up $0.31 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $92.51. The stock had a trading volume of 393,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,457,596. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.55. Verona Pharma has a fifty-two week low of $14.14 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 13.03, a quick ratio of 12.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.24 and a beta of 0.21.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.49. The business had revenue of $98.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.47 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verona Pharma will post -1.95 EPS for the current year.

About Verona Pharma

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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