Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) Rating Lowered to “Sector Perform” at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $2.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $11.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on VRCA. Brookline Capital Management reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.60.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRCA opened at $0.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.45 and a beta of 1.45. Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $0.70 and a 52 week high of $11.41.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.49) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by ($0.12). The business had revenue of ($1.78) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.53 million. Verrica Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 625.06% and a negative return on equity of 3,102.90%. On average, equities analysts predict that Verrica Pharmaceuticals will post -1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verrica Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Simplify Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,041,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,268,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,511,000 after acquiring an additional 7,609 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Key Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $332,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.45% of the company’s stock.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc, a clinical-stage dermatology therapeutics company, develops medications for the treatment of skin diseases in the United States. Its product pipeline comprises YCANTH (VP-102), which is in phase III clinical trial for the treatment of common warts; and has completed phase II clinical trial for the treatment of external genital warts.