Verve Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERV) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Verve Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERV) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.00.

Several brokerages have issued reports on VERV. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Verve Therapeutics from $56.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Verve Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, HC Wainwright assumed coverage on Verve Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price objective for the company.

Verve Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ VERV opened at $6.74 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $12.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.44. The company has a market capitalization of $563.60 million, a P/E ratio of -2.16 and a beta of 1.70. Verve Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $6.72 and a 1-year high of $21.42.

Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.95 million. Verve Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 39.33% and a negative net margin of 1,701.70%. On average, research analysts expect that Verve Therapeutics will post -2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Verve Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Verve Therapeutics by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,025,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,824,549 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Verve Therapeutics by 8.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,577,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,218,000 after buying an additional 531,182 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verve Therapeutics by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,471,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,279,000 after buying an additional 638,962 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verve Therapeutics by 57.2% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,980,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,486,000 after buying an additional 1,448,003 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Verve Therapeutics by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,846,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,126,000 after acquiring an additional 300,218 shares in the last quarter. 97.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.