Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) Short Interest Update

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,220,000 shares, a growth of 19.1% from the December 31st total of 6,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verona Pharma

In other news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 12,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total transaction of $64,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,276,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,380,000. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 94,144 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.39, for a total transaction of $413,292.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,204,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,748,861.28. This represents a 0.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,129,816 shares of company stock worth $5,523,815. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRNA. Eventide Asset Management LLC grew its position in Verona Pharma by 359.6% in the 3rd 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 period. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 36.3% in the third quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 4,215,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123,166 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma during the third quarter valued at $31,966,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Verona Pharma by 54.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,740,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,085,000 after acquiring an additional 612,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Turn Management LLC bought a new position in Verona Pharma in the third quarter valued at about $16,483,000. 85.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verona Pharma Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRNA traded up $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $57.30. 1,088,015 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,421,411. The stock has a market cap of $4.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.84 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 12.88 and a current ratio of 13.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $45.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.29. Verona Pharma has a 52-week low of $11.39 and a 52-week high of $58.42.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on Verona Pharma in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $64.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target (up from $44.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.14.

Verona Pharma Company 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.