Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) Now Covered by Wells Fargo & Company

Equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 56.20% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on VRNA. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Verona Pharma from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Verona Pharma from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $38.33.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

Verona Pharma stock opened at $32.01 on Thursday. Verona Pharma has a 52 week low of $11.39 and a 52 week high of $32.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.65. The company has a quick ratio of 8.61, a current ratio of 8.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.57 and a beta of 0.44.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.88) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.35) by ($0.53). During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.11) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Verona Pharma will post -2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verona Pharma

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Verona Pharma by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,593,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,645,000 after purchasing an additional 8,448 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Verona Pharma by 71.4% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 67,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 28,071 shares during the last quarter. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC raised its position in Verona Pharma by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC now owns 504,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,034,000 after purchasing an additional 86,809 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Verona Pharma by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 74,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 2,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verona Pharma during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $412,000. Institutional investors own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

About Verona Pharma

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.