Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" to Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Shares (NASDAQ:VRNA), with an average 12-month price target of $109.00.
• The company recently reported earnings of $0.13 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, and generated a revenue of $103.14 million during the last quarter.
• Insider trading activity includes significant sales by Director Michael Austwick and CEO David Zaccardelli, indicating a 47% and 1.54% decrease in their respective holdings.

Shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $109.00.

VRNA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $107.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Zacks Research raised Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $107.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $107.00 target price (down from $140.00) on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $138.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRNA opened at $106.29 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 10.54, a current ratio of 10.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $9.16 billion, a PE ratio of -107.36 and a beta of 0.14. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share has a 12 month low of $27.54 and a 12 month high of $106.45. The company's 50-day moving average price is $105.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.25.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $103.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.41 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share will post -1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share news, Director Michael Austwick sold 11,288 shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total value of $148,324.32. Following the sale, the director owned 12,712 shares of the company's stock, valued at $167,035.68. This trade represents a 47.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 208,912 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total value of $2,745,103.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 13,376,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $175,762,532.16. The trade was a 1.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 540,584 shares of company stock valued at $7,103,274. 4.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 5.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,940 shares of the company's stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 44.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 630 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,675 shares of the company's stock worth $442,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,880 shares of the company's stock worth $1,124,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 7.2% in the second quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 6,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $614,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the period. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Company 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.

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