WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with one hold rating and fourteen buy ratings.
• Insider selling is notable, with Director Christian O. Henry selling 9,670 shares and Director Gregory L. Verdine selling 30,000 shares recently, indicating a decrease in insider ownership.
• The company's latest earnings report showed a loss of ($0.31) per share, which missed analysts' expectations, alongside revenues of $8.70 million below the forecast of $11.52 million.

Shares of WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.2667.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WVE. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on WAVE Life Sciences from $24.00 to $21.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer began coverage on WAVE Life Sciences in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Citigroup began coverage on WAVE Life Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. They set a "buy" rating and a $16.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen cut WAVE Life Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research note on Monday, June 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Christian O. Henry sold 9,670 shares of WAVE Life Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.81, for a total value of $85,192.70. Following the sale, the director directly owned 29,645 shares in the company, valued at $261,172.45. This trade represents a 24.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory L. Verdine sold 30,000 shares of WAVE Life Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.95, for a total transaction of $208,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 282,517 shares in the company, valued at $1,963,493.15. This trade represents a 9.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 44,542 shares of company stock valued at $336,323. 23.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of WAVE Life Sciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WVE. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 10.2% in the second quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 13,060 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 9.1% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,673 shares of the company's stock valued at $151,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 18.7% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 11,444 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,802 shares in the last quarter. Velan Capital Investment Management LP grew its stake in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 15.4% in the second quarter. Velan Capital Investment Management LP now owns 15,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 8.2% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 28,955 shares of the company's stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 2,206 shares in the last quarter. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WAVE Life Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WVE opened at $10.15 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.28 and a beta of -0.95. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $7.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.98. WAVE Life Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $5.04 and a fifty-two week high of $16.74.

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.29) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $8.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.52 million. Equities research analysts expect that WAVE Life Sciences will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

About WAVE Life Sciences

Wave Life Sciences Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, designs, develops, and commercializes ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines through PRISM, a discovery and drug development platform. The company's RNA medicines platform, PRISM, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights into human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders.

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