Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,040,000 shares, a decline of 32.6% from the November 15th total of 4,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 869,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verrica Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $7,511,000 after purchasing an additional 7,609 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 512,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $744,000 after purchasing an additional 61,041 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,041,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $335,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 106.5% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 69,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 36,028 shares during the last quarter. 42.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VRCA shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut Verrica Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $11.00 to $2.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright downgraded shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Brookline Capital Management reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verrica Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.60.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 8.2 %

NASDAQ:VRCA opened at $0.80 on Friday. Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $0.70 and a 1 year high of $11.41. The stock has a market cap of $36.60 million, a P/E ratio of -0.44 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.92.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share (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 591.84%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verrica Pharmaceuticals will post -1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Verrica Pharmaceuticals

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.