Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) PT Lowered to $20.00

Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) had its price objective reduced by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $25.00 to $20.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 304.04% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Verve Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.50.

Verve Therapeutics Stock Performance

Verve Therapeutics stock traded down $0.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $4.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,670,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,287,110. The firm has a market cap of $415.60 million, a P/E ratio of -1.74 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $5.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.74. Verve Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $4.59 and a 1 year high of $20.12.

Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.59) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.68) by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 million. Verve Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 37.35% and a negative net margin of 1,226.51%. Verve Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was up 219.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.87) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verve Therapeutics will post -2.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verve Therapeutics

In other news, insider Andrew D. Ashe bought 76,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $6.26 per share, for a total transaction of $475,760.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 342,509 shares in the company, valued at $2,144,106.34. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 19.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verve Therapeutics by 15.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,331,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,080,000 after purchasing an additional 859,382 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verve Therapeutics by 57.2% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,980,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,448,003 shares during the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verve Therapeutics by 8.1% in the first quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,592,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,347,000 after acquiring an additional 194,594 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verve Therapeutics by 8.1% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,592,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,424,000 after purchasing an additional 194,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verve Therapeutics by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 369,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,153,000 after purchasing an additional 6,626 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.11% of the company’s stock.

Verve Therapeutics Company Profile

Verve Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage genetic medicines company, engages in developing gene editing medicines for patients to treat cardiovascular diseases in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is VERVE-101, a single-course gene editing treatment that permanently turns off the PCSK9 gene in the liver; and VERVE-102, a product candidate that targets the PCSK9 gene for the treatment of HeFH.