Polar Capital Holdings Plc Acquires New Stake in Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,370,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Wave Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. KBC Group NV purchased a new position in Wave Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Wave Life Sciences by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,308 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Wealth Management purchased a new position in Wave Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Wave Life Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $129,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WVE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Wave Life Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $10.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wave Life Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.17.

Wave Life Sciences Stock Performance

Wave Life Sciences stock opened at $6.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $970.77 million, a P/E ratio of -5.68 and a beta of -0.92. Wave Life Sciences Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $4.25 and a fifty-two week high of $16.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $7.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.95.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $9.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 million. Wave Life Sciences had a negative return on equity of 280.57% and a negative net margin of 66.50%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.24) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Wave Life Sciences Ltd. will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Wave Life Sciences

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 owns 338,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,238,019.07. This represents a 33.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Christian O. Henry sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.77, for a total value 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. Insiders own 29.10% of the company’s stock.

About Wave Life Sciences

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.