Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Hold Rating for Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA)

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $12.00 target price on the stock.

VRCA has been the subject of several other reports. Brookline Capital Management reiterated a hold rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $11.75.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Verrica Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $1.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 2.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $2.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.91. Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $1.04 and a 52-week high of $11.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.57 million, a P/E ratio of -0.75 and a beta of 1.45.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.06. Verrica Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 591.84% and a negative net margin of 625.06%. The firm had revenue of $5.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verrica Pharmaceuticals will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ted White sold 32,469 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total value of $229,231.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 250,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,765,854.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Joe Bonaccorso sold 25,461 shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total value of $179,754.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 106,931 shares in the company, valued at $754,932.86. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ted White sold 32,469 shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total value of $229,231.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 250,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,765,854.26. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 42.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verrica Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $50,000. Key Financial Inc bought a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $69,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 20.4% during the second 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 last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 4,393 shares during the last quarter. 42.45% of the stock is currently 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.