Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) Announces Earnings Results

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) released its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported ($0.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.17), Zacks reports.

Verona Pharma Trading Up 5.7 %

VRNA stock traded up $3.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $67.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,869,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,599,903. The company has a market cap of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.96 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $53.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.48. The company has a current ratio of 13.03, a quick ratio of 12.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Verona Pharma has a 12 month low of $11.39 and a 12 month high of $69.80.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRNA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on Verona Pharma in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Verona Pharma from $44.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Roth Capital raised Verona Pharma to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target (up from $44.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $57.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verona Pharma news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 98,704 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.01, for a total value of $494,507.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,177,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,028,252.96. The trade was a 0.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 67,608 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $338,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 15,007,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,039,080. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 674,712 shares of company stock worth $3,379,001. 4.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.