Short Interest in Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA) Drops By 32.6%

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,040,000 shares, a decrease of 32.6% from the November 15th total of 4,510,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 869,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 5.2 %

Shares of VRCA traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $0.76. The stock had a trading volume of 539,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 735,628. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1.18 and a 200 day moving average of $3.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.34. Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $0.70 and a 12 month high of $11.41.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by ($0.12). Verrica Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 591.84% and a negative net margin of 625.06%. The business had revenue of ($1.78) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.53 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verrica Pharmaceuticals will post -1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Verrica Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRCA. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 404.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 31,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 25,130 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Key Financial Inc purchased a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $87,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $89,000. 42.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Brookline Capital Management reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright cut shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.60.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc, a clinical-stage dermatology therapeutics company, develops medications for the treatment of skin diseases in the United States. Its product pipeline comprises YCANTH (VP-102), which is in phase III clinical trial for the treatment of common warts; and has completed phase II clinical trial for the treatment of external genital warts.