B. Riley Initiates Coverage on Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)

Analysts at B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley’s target price points to a potential upside of 93.66% from the stock’s previous close.

WVE has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Wave Life Sciences in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $10.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Mizuho restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.50.

Wave Life Sciences Price Performance

Shares of WVE opened at $5.68 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.80. Wave Life Sciences has a 1 year low of $3.50 and a 1 year high of $7.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $708.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.92 and a beta of -1.13.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.09). Wave Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 66.50% and a negative return on equity of 1,395.99%. The business had revenue of $19.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.20) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Wave Life Sciences will post -1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wave Life Sciences

In other news, CEO Paul Bolno sold 48,366 shares of Wave Life Sciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.78, for a total transaction of $279,555.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 359,059 shares in the company, valued at $2,075,361.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 29.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wave Life Sciences

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WVE. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 50.2% in the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 7,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 2,451 shares in the last quarter. Oxford Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Profund Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 13.6% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 15,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 1,905 shares in the last quarter. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.