Chris Francis Sells 9,375 Shares of WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) Stock

WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) insider Chris Francis sold 9,375 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.03, for a total transaction of $150,281.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $400,750. This represents a 27.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Chris Francis also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, December 8th, Chris Francis sold 441,031 shares of WAVE Life Sciences stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.57, for a total value of $6,425,821.67.

WAVE Life Sciences Stock Performance

WVE opened at $15.43 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.92 and a 200-day moving average of $9.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.57 and a beta of -1.82. WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $5.28 and a fifty-two week high of $21.73.

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $7.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.85 million. WAVE Life Sciences had a negative return on equity of 75.61% and a negative net margin of 111.64%. On average, equities research analysts predict that WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on WVE. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on WAVE Life Sciences from $24.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of WAVE Life Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of WAVE Life Sciences from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of WAVE Life Sciences from $36.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WAVE Life Sciences

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 1,156.3% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in WAVE Life Sciences by 1,441.6% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 9,284 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC bought a new stake in WAVE Life Sciences during the 1st quarter worth approximately $83,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in WAVE Life Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in WAVE Life Sciences by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 11,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 1,802 shares during the period. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About WAVE Life Sciences

WAVE Life Sciences is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company focused on the discovery and development of stereopure oligonucleotide therapies designed to address serious diseases with high unmet medical need. Leveraging proprietary chemistry and precision synthesis, WAVE engineers drug candidates with defined stereochemistry to optimize potency, safety and manufacturability. This approach aims to enhance target specificity and improve therapeutic profiles compared with traditional oligonucleotide medicines.

The company’s pipeline includes programs in neuromuscular disorders such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and neurodegenerative conditions including Huntington’s disease, as well as early-stage cardiovascular and liver indications.