Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) Cut to "Neutral" at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright cut shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA - Free Report) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

VRCA has been the topic of several other reports. Brookline Capital Management reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Verrica Pharmaceuticals from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $2.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.60.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 6.4 %

Shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $0.05 on Wednesday, reaching $0.75. 1,804,647 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 454,709. Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $0.74 and a fifty-two week high of $11.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.44 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $1.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.17.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verrica Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRCA. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Key Financial Inc bought a new stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $69,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 20.4% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 26,591 shares of the company's stock worth $194,000 after buying an additional 4,514 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 8.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 58,680 shares of the company's stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 4,393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.45% of the company's stock.

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.