Shilanski & Associates Inc. Purchases New Position in Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Shilanski & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $305,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRNA. Eventide Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 359.6% in the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 2,425,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,898,065 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its holdings in Verona Pharma by 74.2% during the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,092,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,722,000 after buying an additional 1,316,998 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in Verona Pharma in the third quarter worth approximately $31,966,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 54.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,740,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,085,000 after acquiring an additional 612,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Turn Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the 3rd quarter valued at $16,483,000. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VRNA. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Roth Capital raised Verona Pharma to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price (up previously from $44.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $53.14.

Insider Activity at Verona Pharma

In related news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 183,728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.01, for a total value of $920,477.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,293,736 shares in the company, valued at $66,601,617.36. This trade represents a 1.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 46,888 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total transaction of $205,369.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,298,896 shares in the company, valued at $67,009,164.48. This trade represents a 0.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,225,592 shares of company stock valued at $5,943,314. Insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Verona Pharma Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:VRNA opened at $54.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 12.88, a current ratio of 13.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Verona Pharma plc has a 1 year low of $11.39 and a 1 year high of $55.91. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.65.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $5.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.18) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verona Pharma plc will post -1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Verona Pharma 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.