Insider Selling: Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) CFO Sells 80,784 Shares of Stock

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 80,784 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.39, for a total transaction of $354,641.76. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,293,736 shares in the company, valued at $62,749,501.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRNA traded up $0.24 on Tuesday, hitting $38.39. The company had a trading volume of 1,210,037 shares, compared to its average volume of 923,131. Verona Pharma plc has a 52-week low of $11.39 and a 52-week high of $39.40. The company has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of -25.06 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.84 and a 200 day moving average of $22.33. The company has a current ratio of 8.61, a quick ratio of 8.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $5.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.18) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verona Pharma

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verona Pharma in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Verona Pharma by 70.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Verona Pharma in the 2nd quarter valued at $154,000. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VRNA shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Verona Pharma from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial upped their target price on Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their target price on shares of Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Verona Pharma has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

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.