Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) Rating Lowered to Sector Perform at Royal Bank of Canada

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) was downgraded by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $2.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $11.00. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 167.99% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on VRCA. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Brookline Capital Management reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.60.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 6.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRCA opened at $0.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.84 million, a PE ratio of -0.41 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58. Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $0.74 and a 12-month high of $11.41. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $1.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.14.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by ($0.12). The company had revenue of ($1.78) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.53 million. Verrica Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 625.06% and a negative return on equity of 3,102.90%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verrica Pharmaceuticals will post -1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verrica Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRCA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,268,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,511,000 after purchasing an additional 7,609 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 8.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 58,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 4,393 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc purchased a new stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 26,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,000 after buying an additional 4,514 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. 42.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Verrica Pharmaceuticals

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc, a clinical-stage dermatology therapeutics company, develops medications for the treatment of skin diseases in the United States. Its product pipeline comprises YCANTH (VP-102), which is in phase III clinical trial for the treatment of common warts; and has completed phase II clinical trial for the treatment of external genital warts.