Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA) Stock Rating Lowered by Wolfe Research

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wolfe Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. BTIG Research cut shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $107.00 price target (down previously from $140.00) on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 target price on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $138.00 to $107.00 in a report on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $107.45.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRNA traded down $0.02 during trading on Thursday, hitting $104.83. The company had a trading volume of 10,916,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,598,487. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.67. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share has a fifty-two week low of $18.51 and a fifty-two week high of $104.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -52.42 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 8.73, a current ratio of 8.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.49. The company 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.

Insider Activity at Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

In related news, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 400,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.40, for a total value of $4,560,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,190,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $150,367,915.20. This trade represents a 2.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 114,984 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.82, for a total transaction of $1,014,158.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,546,472 shares in the company, valued at $22,459,883.04. This represents a 4.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,965,800 shares of company stock valued at $20,056,881 over the last three months. Insiders own 4.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VRNA. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 2.2% in 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 buying an additional 73,900 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,146,609 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 1.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,866,280 shares of the company's stock valued at $118,491,000 after buying an additional 32,748 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in the fourth quarter valued at about $84,568,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew 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 buying an additional 624,370 shares in the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.