Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Acquires New Holdings in Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,111,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,966,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned approximately 1.39% of Verona Pharma at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its position in shares of Verona Pharma by 74.2% during the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,092,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,998 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. purchased a new position in Verona Pharma during the second quarter worth $11,177,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Verona Pharma by 54.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,740,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,085,000 after buying an additional 612,854 shares in the last quarter. First Turn Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verona Pharma in the third quarter worth $16,483,000. Finally, NEA Management Company LLC lifted its position in shares of Verona Pharma by 9.3% in the second quarter. NEA Management Company LLC now owns 5,584,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,756,000 after acquiring an additional 476,190 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verona Pharma

In related news, Director David R. Ebsworth purchased 39,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $4.80 per share, for a total transaction of $188,928.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 920,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,416,014.40. This trade represents a 4.47 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 249,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total value of $1,093,808.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,089,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,714,024.80. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,141,944 shares of company stock valued at $5,004,952. Corporate insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRNA opened at $39.68 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.67 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 13.03 and a quick ratio of 12.88. Verona Pharma plc has a 1-year low of $11.39 and a 1-year high of $40.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $33.83 and a 200-day moving average of $24.71.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $5.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.18) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Verona Pharma from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target 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.