Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) Trading Up 6.1% – Should You Buy?

Verve Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERV) shot up 6.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $6.85 and last traded at $6.97. 172,308 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 1,348,190 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VERV has been the subject of several analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Verve Therapeutics from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Verve Therapeutics from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, HC Wainwright decreased their price target on Verve Therapeutics from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Verve Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.77. The company has a market cap of $633.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.02 and a beta of 1.68.

Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.59) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.70) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $6.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 million. Verve Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 35.23% and a negative net margin of 807.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 120.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.72) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Verve Therapeutics, Inc. will post -2.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Verve Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Verve Therapeutics by 139.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 222,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 129,944 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Verve Therapeutics by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,253,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,586,000 after purchasing an additional 903,809 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP purchased a new position in Verve Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $3,020,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verve Therapeutics by 28.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 572,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,769,000 after purchasing an additional 126,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Verve Therapeutics in the third quarter worth about $500,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.11% of the company’s stock.

About Verve Therapeutics

Verve Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage genetic medicines company, engages in developing gene editing medicines for patients to treat cardiovascular diseases in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is VERVE-101, a single-course gene editing treatment that permanently turns off the PCSK9 gene in the liver; and VERVE-102, a product candidate that targets the PCSK9 gene for the treatment of HeFH.