Evercore ISI Upgrades Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) to Strong-Buy

Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Evercore ISI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on VERA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Vera Therapeutics from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $107.00 target price on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $51.75.

Vera Therapeutics Stock Down 0.2 %

VERA opened at $40.02 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.52 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 21.43 and a current ratio of 21.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.18 and its 200 day moving average is $39.08. Vera Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $9.24 and a fifty-two week high of $50.78.

Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.62) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.56) by ($0.06). On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vera Therapeutics will post -2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vera Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Marshall Fordyce sold 15,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.50, for a total value of $585,937.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 307,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,548,950. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 21.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vera Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crestline Management LP boosted its stake in Vera Therapeutics by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 60,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 14,689 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Vera Therapeutics by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 170,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after purchasing an additional 34,381 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group bought a new position in Vera Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $17,087,000. Pale Fire Capital SE purchased a new stake in Vera Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $252,000. Finally, Kynam Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Vera Therapeutics by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Kynam Capital Management LP now owns 3,650,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,142,000 after purchasing an additional 694,286 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.21% of the company’s stock.

Vera Therapeutics Company Profile

Vera Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing and commercializing treatments for patients with serious immunological diseases. Its lead product candidate is atacicept, a fusion protein self-administered as a subcutaneous injection that is in Phase III clinical trial for patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy; and for treatment of lupus nephritis that is in Phase II clinical trial.