Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $106.93 and last traded at $106.91, with a volume of 1871055 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $106.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital cut shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Cowen lowered shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.00.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share Trading Up 0.1%

The firm has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -107.99 and a beta of 0.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 10.71 and a quick ratio of 10.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $105.95 and its 200-day moving average is $88.27.

Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.14. The business had revenue of $103.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.41 million. Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share had a negative net margin of 36.62% and a negative return on equity of 21.12%. Equities analysts anticipate that Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share will post -1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 208,912 shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total value of $2,745,103.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,464,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,789,679.52. The trade was a 1.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Martin Edwards sold 10,808 shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.14, for a total transaction of $142,017.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 157,992 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,076,014.88. This trade represents a 6.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 540,584 shares of company stock valued at $7,103,274 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. increased its stake in Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 2.2% in the first quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 3,457,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,539,000 after purchasing an additional 73,900 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,866,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,491,000 after acquiring an additional 32,748 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 381.9% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,631,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,575 shares during the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,562,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,778,000 after acquiring an additional 30,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,159,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,681,000 after acquiring an additional 146,006 shares during the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Verona Pharma PLC American Depositary Share

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.