The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Reduces Stake in Vera Therapeutics, Inc. $VERA

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its stake in Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA) by 29.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 146,189 shares of the company’s stock after selling 61,779 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Vera Therapeutics were worth $5,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Vera Therapeutics by 49.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,461,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,595,000 after purchasing an additional 1,795,537 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. raised its stake in Vera Therapeutics by 8.8% during the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 3,641,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,812,000 after purchasing an additional 293,040 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Vera Therapeutics by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,570,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,805,000 after purchasing an additional 379,748 shares during the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP boosted its holdings in Vera Therapeutics by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 3,100,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,036,000 after purchasing an additional 600,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eversept Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 3,072,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,581,000 after buying an additional 264,468 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Marshall Fordyce sold 46,250 shares of Vera Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.30, for a total value of $1,956,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 151,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,429,346.20. This trade represents a 23.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 83,250 shares of company stock valued at $3,337,770. 15.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VERA shares. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Vera Therapeutics from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Vera Therapeutics from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Vera Therapeutics from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.58.

Vera Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VERA opened at $30.35 on Thursday. Vera Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.07 and a 1-year high of $56.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of -5.48 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 13.64 and a quick ratio of 13.64.

Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($1.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.33) by ($0.36). During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.81) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Vera Therapeutics, Inc. will post -6.37 EPS for the current year.

Vera Therapeutics Company Profile

Vera Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel immunotherapies that harness the body’s own regulatory T cells to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. By leveraging a proprietary protein engineering platform, the company designs Treg-selective cytokine variants intended to restore immune balance and provide targeted, disease-modifying effects. Its pipeline comprises multiple preclinical and clinical candidates aimed at indications characterized by chronic inflammation and autoimmunity.

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Vera Therapeutics collaborates with leading academic and research institutions to advance its development programs.