Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) Shares Down 3.5%

Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA)’s stock price traded down 3.5% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $36.16 and last traded at $36.27. 130,625 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 917,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VERA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Vera Therapeutics from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $107.00 price target on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a report on Friday, September 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vera Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $51.75.

Vera Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $36.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.33 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 21.43 and a quick ratio of 21.43.

Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.62) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by ($0.06). As a group, equities analysts predict that Vera Therapeutics, Inc. will post -2.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vera Therapeutics news, CEO Marshall Fordyce sold 14,471 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.76, for a total value of $575,366.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 322,667 shares in the company, valued at $12,829,239.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 21.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vera Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VERA. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Vera Therapeutics by 55.5% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 6,244 shares in the last quarter. Crestline Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 60,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 14,689 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its position in Vera Therapeutics by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 170,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,626,000 after buying an additional 34,381 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group acquired a new stake in Vera Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $17,087,000. Finally, Pale Fire Capital SE bought a new position in Vera Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $252,000. Institutional investors own 99.21% of the company’s stock.

About Vera Therapeutics

Vera Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing and commercializing treatments for patients with serious immunological diseases. Its lead product candidate is atacicept, a fusion protein self-administered as a subcutaneous injection that is in Phase III clinical trial for patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy; and for treatment of lupus nephritis that is in Phase II clinical trial.