Rathbones Group PLC Sells 1,683 Shares of Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)

Rathbones Group PLC lowered its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,218 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,683 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Verona Pharma were worth $475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verona Pharma by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Verona Pharma by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verona Pharma by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 62,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,914,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Verona Pharma by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 22,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807 shares during the period. Finally, EMC Capital Management raised its holdings in Verona Pharma by 3,400.0% in the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after acquiring an additional 3,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verona Pharma news, insider Kathleen A. Rickard sold 79,264 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.35, for a total value of $661,854.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,608,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,784,949.60. This represents a 2.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verona Pharma Trading Up 6.9 %

VRNA opened at $57.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 13.03 and a quick ratio of 12.88. The company has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.16 and a beta of 0.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.18. Verona Pharma plc has a fifty-two week low of $11.39 and a fifty-two week high of $70.40.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on VRNA. Roth Mkm began coverage on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verona Pharma from $44.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial restated 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. Finally, Roth Capital set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Verona Pharma in a report on Friday, February 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $69.14.

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.