Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Friday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on WVE. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Wave Life Sciences in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Wedbush started coverage on Wave Life Sciences in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Wave Life Sciences in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $10.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wave Life Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.17.

Wave Life Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WVE opened at $6.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.94 and a beta of -0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $7.78 and a 200-day moving average of $11.13. Wave Life Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $4.25 and a fifty-two week high of $16.74.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $9.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 million. Wave Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 66.50% and a negative return on equity of 280.57%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.24) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Wave Life Sciences will post -1.14 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Wave Life Sciences news, Director Christian O. Henry sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.77, for a total transaction of $102,585.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,115 shares in the company, valued at $157,443.55. This trade represents a 39.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Paul Bolno sold 169,025 shares of Wave Life Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.57, for a total transaction of $1,617,569.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 338,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,238,019.07. The trade was a 33.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 29.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wave Life Sciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WVE. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $103,000. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 2,308 shares in the last quarter. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Wave Life Sciences

Wave Life Sciences Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, designs, develops, and commercializes ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines through PRISM, a discovery and drug development platform. The company's RNA medicines platform, PRISM, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights into human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders.