Matisse Capital Has $669,000 Holdings in Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Matisse Capital cut its stake in shares of Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) by 38.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,000 shares during the period. Matisse Capital’s holdings in Verona Pharma were worth $669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Verona Pharma by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Verona Pharma by 25.4% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Verona Pharma by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 22,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807 shares during the period. Finally, EMC Capital Management increased its holdings in Verona Pharma by 3,400.0% in the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 3,400 shares during the period. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VRNA shares. Roth Mkm started coverage on Verona Pharma in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. Roth Capital upgraded Verona Pharma to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target (up from $44.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $53.14.

Verona Pharma Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRNA opened at $58.98 on Tuesday. Verona Pharma plc has a fifty-two week low of $11.39 and a fifty-two week high of $60.81. The stock has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 12.88 and a current ratio of 13.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.47.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $5.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verona Pharma plc will post -1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verona Pharma

In other Verona Pharma news, Director David R. Ebsworth acquired 39,360 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $4.80 per share, for a total transaction of $188,928.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 920,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,416,014.40. This represents a 4.47 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 240,000 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.90, for a total transaction of $1,176,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,671,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,090,252. This represents a 8.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 954,888 shares of company stock worth $4,755,881. Insiders own 4.80% of the company’s stock.

Verona Pharma Profile

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.