Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.17 EPS

Verona Pharma (NASDAQ:VRNA - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported ($0.40) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.17), Zacks reports. The business had revenue of $36.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.49 million.

Verona Pharma Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of Verona Pharma stock traded down $3.66 during trading on Monday, reaching $65.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,348,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,581,766. The company has a quick ratio of 12.88, a current ratio of 13.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Verona Pharma has a 52-week low of $11.39 and a 52-week high of $70.40. The firm's 50-day moving average is $55.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.17. The company has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.36 and a beta of 0.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Mark W. Hahn sold 183,728 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $66,601,617.36. This represents a 1.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David Zaccardelli sold 67,608 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,007,816 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 472,320 shares of company stock worth $2,365,065 in the last 90 days. 4.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on VRNA shares. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $57.00 price objective (up previously from $44.00) on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Verona Pharma from $74.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Verona Pharma to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their target price on Verona Pharma from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verona Pharma has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.83.

Verona Pharma Company 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.