Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) Stock Price Up 7.6% Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA)’s stock price shot up 7.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $30.11 and last traded at $29.88. 164,563 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 896,284 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.77.

The company reported ($0.72) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.11.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on VERA. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $49.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Vera Therapeutics from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Vera Therapeutics from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vera Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $65.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marshall Fordyce sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.74, for a total value of $730,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,603 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,993,989.22. The trade was a 10.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 52,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,305,625 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 21.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vera Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VERA. Huntington National Bank bought a new stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Vera Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Vera Therapeutics by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Vera Therapeutics by 127.2% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. 99.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vera Therapeutics Stock Up 1.8 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.75 and its 200 day moving average is $40.31. The company has a current ratio of 13.76, a quick ratio of 13.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.47 and a beta of 1.11.

About Vera Therapeutics

Vera Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing and commercializing treatments for patients with serious immunological diseases. Its lead product candidate is atacicept, a fusion protein self-administered as a subcutaneous injection that is in Phase III clinical trial for patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy; and for treatment of lupus nephritis that is in Phase II clinical trial.