Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) Stock Breaks Above 50-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA) shares passed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.83 and traded as high as $32.18. Vera Therapeutics shares last traded at $31.97, with a volume of 1,985,322 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on VERA shares. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Vera Therapeutics from $76.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. HC Wainwright reduced their target price on shares of Vera Therapeutics from $125.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.86.

Vera Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 10.92 and a current ratio of 10.92. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.84. The company has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($1.52) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.58) by $0.06. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($1.20) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vera Therapeutics, Inc. will post -6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vera Therapeutics news, CEO Marshall Fordyce sold 18,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.00, for a total value of $684,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 235,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,704,028. The trade was a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 15.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics by 47.2% in the third quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,839,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,397,000 after buying an additional 589,831 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. boosted its position in Vera Therapeutics by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 568,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,426,000 after buying an additional 100,461 shares during the period. Braidwell LP boosted its position in Vera Therapeutics by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 564,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,232,000 after buying an additional 40,900 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Vera Therapeutics by 136.5% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 457,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,397,000 after buying an additional 263,900 shares during the period. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Vera Therapeutics by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 369,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,869,000 after acquiring an additional 16,096 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.21% of the company’s stock.

Vera Therapeutics Company Profile

Vera Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing treatments for immunological diseases. The company’s research is centered on therapies that target the underlying causes of autoimmune conditions rather than primarily addressing their symptoms.

Vera’s lead product candidate is atacicept, a biologic designed to inhibit the B-cell survival factors BLyS and APRIL. The company has been evaluating atacicept in IgA nephropathy, an autoimmune kidney disease that can lead to progressive loss of kidney function, and has also investigated its potential in other immune-mediated diseases.