Analysts Set Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA) Price Target at $109.00

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.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the fourteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Twelve 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 target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $109.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VRNA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $107.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial downgraded Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $107.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, BTIG Research cut Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Price Performance

Shares of VRNA stock traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $106.02. 1,854,169 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,350,935. The stock's 50-day moving average is $105.57 and its 200-day moving average is $85.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 10.71 and a quick ratio of 10.54. The stock has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -107.09 and a beta of 0.14. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share has a 52 week low of $27.54 and a 52 week high of $106.45.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $103.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.41 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share will post -1.95 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 208,912 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total transaction of $2,745,103.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,376,144 shares in the company, valued at $175,762,532.16. This represents a 1.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Vikas Sinha sold 4,328 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total value of $56,869.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 94,112 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,236,631.68. This represents a 4.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 540,584 shares of company stock worth $7,103,274 in the last ninety days. 4.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VRNA. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share during the first quarter valued at $284,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 366.0% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,486 shares of the company's stock valued at $720,000 after buying an additional 9,021 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 14.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share during the fourth quarter valued at $362,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 113.4% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 23,265 shares of the company's stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 12,362 shares during the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.