Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $13.00 to $17.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Wave Life Sciences traded as high as $13.28 and last traded at $13.15, with a volume of 1950650 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $8.56.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley upped their target price on Wave Life Sciences from $11.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Wave Life Sciences from $11.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Leerink Partners increased their price objective on Wave Life Sciences from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Wave Life Sciences from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Paul Bolno sold 48,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.78, for a total transaction of $279,555.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 359,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,075,361.02. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Paul Bolno sold 48,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.78, for a total value of $279,555.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 359,059 shares in the company, valued at $2,075,361.02. 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 the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Plc Gsk purchased 2,791,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,205,528. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 29.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wave Life Sciences

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WVE. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $174,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 274,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,384,000 after acquiring an additional 9,208 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Wave Life Sciences by 9.0% in the first quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 54,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Wave Life Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $586,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Wave Life Sciences by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 156,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 4,100 shares during the last quarter. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wave Life Sciences Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of -28.10 and a beta of -1.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.16.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $19.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.80 million. Wave Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 66.50% and a negative return on equity of 1,395.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.20) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Wave Life Sciences Ltd. will post -1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wave Life Sciences Company Profile

Wave Life Sciences Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, designs, develops, and commercializes ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines through PRISM, a discovery and drug development platform. The company's RNA medicines platform, PRISM, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights into human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders.