Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Invests $20.55 Million in Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,660,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,545,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WVE. Corebridge Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Wave Life Sciences by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 45,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $567,000 after purchasing an additional 4,423 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its position in Wave Life Sciences by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 3,162,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,119,000 after buying an additional 280,859 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,182,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,368,000 after acquiring an additional 294,956 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences during the fourth quarter worth about $257,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 77,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 9,138 shares in the last quarter. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Paul Bolno sold 169,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.57, for a total transaction of $1,617,569.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 338,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,238,019.07. This represents a 33.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Christian O. Henry sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.77, for a total transaction of $102,585.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,443.55. This trade represents a 39.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 29.10% of the company’s stock.

Wave Life Sciences Stock Performance

Wave Life Sciences stock opened at $8.62 on Friday. Wave Life Sciences Ltd. has a 1 year low of $4.25 and a 1 year high of $16.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $10.73 and its 200-day moving average is $11.64. The company has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.77 and a beta of -1.04.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $83.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.60 million. Wave Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 66.50% and a negative return on equity of 280.57%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Wave Life Sciences Ltd. will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WVE. StockNews.com upgraded Wave Life Sciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.60.

About Wave Life Sciences

Wave Life Sciences Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, designs, develops, and commercializes ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines through PRISM, a discovery and drug development platform. The company's RNA medicines platform, PRISM, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights into human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders.