Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Vera Therapeutics, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with an average twelve-month target price of $63.00.
• Director Patrick G. Enright purchased 209,393 shares at an average cost of $20.87, increasing his stake in the company by 6.23% to a total of approximately $74.5 million.
• The company reported a quarterly loss of ($1.20) earnings per share, missing consensus estimates, with analysts predicting a total EPS of (-2.89) for the current fiscal year.

Shares of Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $63.00.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on Vera Therapeutics from $107.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a "peer perform" rating on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 2nd.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Patrick G. Enright bought 209,393 shares of Vera Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.87 per share, for a total transaction of $4,370,031.91. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 3,569,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,495,924.14. This represents a 6.23% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 16.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vera Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $264,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL raised its position in Vera Therapeutics by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 31,843 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,347,000 after buying an additional 7,365 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Vera Therapeutics by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 128,380 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,429,000 after acquiring an additional 26,519 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Vera Therapeutics by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 455,007 shares of the company's stock worth $19,242,000 after acquiring an additional 89,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in Vera Therapeutics by 66.4% during the 4th quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 38,550 shares of the company's stock worth $1,630,000 after acquiring an additional 15,386 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.21% of the company's stock.

Vera Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERA traded down $1.06 on Wednesday, reaching $21.90. 1,204,478 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,346,823. Vera Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $18.53 and a twelve month high of $51.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $22.19 and a 200-day moving average of $23.47. The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.12 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 17.03, a quick ratio of 17.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported ($1.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.82) by ($0.38). During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.62) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Vera Therapeutics will post -2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Vera Therapeutics

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.