Janus Henderson Group PLC Reduces Holdings in Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Janus Henderson Group PLC lessened its position in shares of Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA - Free Report) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,042,795 shares of the company's stock after selling 49,247 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 1.30% of Verona Pharma worth $30,022,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Verona Pharma by 101.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 135,629 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,961,000 after buying an additional 68,264 shares during the period. AMI Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Verona Pharma in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,012,000. Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Verona Pharma in the second quarter valued at about $154,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in Verona Pharma during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.88% of the company's stock.

Verona Pharma Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRNA traded up $0.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $40.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 626,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,046,483. Verona Pharma plc has a fifty-two week low of $11.39 and a fifty-two week high of $40.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.28. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of -21.09 and a beta of 0.46.

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $5.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.18) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Verona Pharma plc will post -2.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VRNA shares. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on shares of Verona Pharma from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Verona Pharma from $50.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Verona Pharma from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Verona Pharma from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $43.83.

Insider Transactions at Verona Pharma

In other Verona Pharma news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 183,728 shares of Verona Pharma stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.01, for a total transaction of $920,477.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,293,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at $66,601,617.36. The trade was a 1.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 110,456 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.38, for a total value of $483,797.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,894,464 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,237,752.32. This represents a 0.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,094,432 shares of company stock valued at $9,748,833. 4.80% of the stock is currently 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.