WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of WAVE Life Sciences from $16.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. UBS Group set a $32.00 price target on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on shares of WAVE Life Sciences from $19.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on WAVE Life Sciences from $34.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on WAVE Life Sciences from $36.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.69.

WAVE Life Sciences Stock Up 5.5%

WAVE Life Sciences stock opened at $13.45 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $14.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.28. WAVE Life Sciences has a 12 month low of $5.28 and a 12 month high of $21.73. The stock has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.93 and a beta of -1.78.

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $7.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.85 million. WAVE Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 111.64% and a negative return on equity of 75.61%. On average, analysts expect that WAVE Life Sciences will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Francis sold 441,031 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.57, for a total transaction of $6,425,821.67. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $364,250. This represents a 94.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Plc Gsk purchased 1,470,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $19.00 per share, with a total value of $27,930,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 18,245,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $346,668,129. This represents a 8.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders sold 912,117 shares of company stock worth $13,464,044 over the last ninety days. 23.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 678,144.7% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,750,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,455,000 after acquiring an additional 3,750,140 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in WAVE Life Sciences by 20.0% in the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 15,016,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,607,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,000 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in WAVE Life Sciences by 35.3% in the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,295,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,422,000 after purchasing an additional 859,160 shares during the period. Stempoint Capital LP raised its holdings in WAVE Life Sciences by 902.2% during the 2nd quarter. Stempoint Capital LP now owns 900,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,852,000 after purchasing an additional 810,505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in WAVE Life Sciences by 5,024.6% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 805,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,830,000 after purchasing an additional 790,175 shares during the period. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

WAVE Life Sciences Company Profile

WAVE Life Sciences is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company focused on the discovery and development of stereopure oligonucleotide therapies designed to address serious diseases with high unmet medical need. Leveraging proprietary chemistry and precision synthesis, WAVE engineers drug candidates with defined stereochemistry to optimize potency, safety and manufacturability. This approach aims to enhance target specificity and improve therapeutic profiles compared with traditional oligonucleotide medicines.

The company’s pipeline includes programs in neuromuscular disorders such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and neurodegenerative conditions including Huntington’s disease, as well as early-stage cardiovascular and liver indications.