Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) Earns “Buy” Rating from HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reiterated their buy rating on shares of Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA – Get Rating) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, TipRanks reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $25.00 target price on the stock.

Separately, Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Verona Pharma from $25.00 to $18.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 17th.

Shares of Verona Pharma stock opened at $4.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $266.83 million, a PE ratio of -3.71 and a beta of 0.67. Verona Pharma has a twelve month low of $3.41 and a twelve month high of $7.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $4.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.14. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

In other news, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 112,800 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $0.59, for a total transaction of $66,552.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,606,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,615.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 59,720 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $0.54, for a total transaction of $32,248.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,546,408 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,375,060.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 246,688 shares of company stock worth $135,597 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Citigroup Inc. acquired a new stake in Verona Pharma in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,841,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verona Pharma in the first quarter worth $66,000. IPG Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verona Pharma in the fourth quarter worth $80,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 48,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 8,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verona Pharma in the fourth quarter worth $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.19% of the company’s stock.

About Verona Pharma (Get Rating)

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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