HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $22.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price target points to a potential upside of 126.69% from the company’s current price.

WVE has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Wave Life Sciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.60.

Wave Life Sciences Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Wave Life Sciences stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $9.71. 2,024,490 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,092,747. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.66. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.76 and a beta of -1.04. Wave Life Sciences has a 52-week low of $4.25 and a 52-week high of $16.74.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 66.50% and a negative return on equity of 280.57%. The business had revenue of $83.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.60 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Wave Life Sciences will post -1.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Wave Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $98,000. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 31.5% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,308 shares in the last quarter. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.