Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) Stock Price Down 5.3% – Time to Sell?

Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) shares fell 5.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $9.53 and last traded at $9.54. 283,715 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 1,090,348 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.07.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on WVE. StockNews.com raised Wave Life Sciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.60.

Wave Life Sciences Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.12 and a beta of -1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $10.83 and a 200-day moving average of $11.64.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.34. Wave Life Sciences had a negative return on equity of 280.57% and a negative net margin of 66.50%. The company had revenue of $83.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.60 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Wave Life Sciences Ltd. will post -1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Christian O. Henry sold 10,500 shares of Wave Life Sciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.77, for a total transaction of $102,585.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,443.55. The trade was a 39.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Paul Bolno sold 169,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.57, for a total transaction of $1,617,569.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 338,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,238,019.07. This represents a 33.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Wave Life Sciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WVE. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its position in Wave Life Sciences by 31.0% during the third quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 10,047,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,390,000 after buying an additional 2,378,159 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Wave Life Sciences by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 6,712,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,033,000 after buying an additional 853,589 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Wave Life Sciences by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,098,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,074,000 after buying an additional 1,972,262 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,182,512 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,368,000 after acquiring an additional 294,956 shares during the period. Finally, Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 3,162,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,119,000 after acquiring an additional 280,859 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.73% of the company’s stock.

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.