Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) Director Sells $7,223,037.04 in Stock

Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA – Get Rating) Director Orbimed Advisors Llc sold 359,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.08, for a total value of $7,223,037.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,777,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,857,782.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Orbimed Advisors Llc also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, May 11th, Orbimed Advisors Llc sold 80,000 shares of Verona Pharma stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.26, for a total value of $1,780,800.00.

Verona Pharma Stock Down 1.2 %

VRNA stock opened at $20.92 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.39. The company has a current ratio of 12.77, a quick ratio of 12.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Verona Pharma plc has a 1-year low of $3.53 and a 1-year high of $26.44. The stock has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.79 and a beta of 0.18.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 7th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $0.46 million during the quarter. Analysts expect that Verona Pharma plc will post -0.9 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Verona Pharma

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRNA. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the 2nd quarter valued at $49,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 520.2% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 3,803 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verona Pharma during the 1st quarter valued at $105,000. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Verona Pharma by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VRNA shares. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Monday, March 13th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Verona Pharma from $26.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $29.33.

About Verona Pharma

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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.