HC Wainwright Reiterates “Buy” Rating for WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by stock analysts at HC Wainwright in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $30.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price target indicates a potential upside of 115.36% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of WAVE Life Sciences from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $9.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, December 8th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on WAVE Life Sciences from $24.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Leerink Partners reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research note on Monday, December 8th. UBS Group set a $32.00 target price on WAVE Life Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upped their price target on WAVE Life Sciences from $19.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WAVE Life Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

WAVE Life Sciences Trading Down 9.3%

WVE opened at $13.93 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $14.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.82. WAVE Life Sciences has a 12-month low of $5.28 and a 12-month high of $21.73. The firm has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.42 and a beta of -1.78.

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $17.25 million for the quarter. WAVE Life Sciences had a negative return on equity of 140.75% and a negative net margin of 478.35%. On average, research analysts forecast that WAVE Life Sciences will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at WAVE Life Sciences

In other news, CFO Kyle Moran sold 210,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.77, for a total transaction of $3,101,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 89,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,317,749.86. This represents a 70.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Christian O. Henry sold 93,445 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.65, for a total value of $1,368,969.25. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,700 shares in the company, valued at $186,055. This trade represents a 88.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 948,375 shares of company stock valued at $14,112,151 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 23.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WAVE Life Sciences

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in WAVE Life Sciences by 736.5% during the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 258,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 227,167 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB purchased a new stake in WAVE Life Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $330,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in WAVE Life Sciences by 33.1% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,569,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,199,000 after purchasing an additional 390,078 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 678,144.7% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,750,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,455,000 after buying an additional 3,750,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 621,378 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,039,000 after buying an additional 142,109 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.73% of the company’s stock.

About WAVE Life Sciences

WAVE Life Sciences is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company focused on the discovery and development of stereopure oligonucleotide therapies designed to address serious diseases with high unmet medical need. Leveraging proprietary chemistry and precision synthesis, WAVE engineers drug candidates with defined stereochemistry to optimize potency, safety and manufacturability. This approach aims to enhance target specificity and improve therapeutic profiles compared with traditional oligonucleotide medicines.

The company’s pipeline includes programs in neuromuscular disorders such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and neurodegenerative conditions including Huntington’s disease, as well as early-stage cardiovascular and liver indications.