China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 2,882 Shares of Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA)

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Vera Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA) by 27.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,427 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares during the quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Vera Therapeutics were worth $568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Vera Therapeutics by 127.2% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vera Therapeutics by 116.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 20,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 10,916 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in shares of Vera Therapeutics by 41.1% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 426,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,830,000 after buying an additional 124,197 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Vera Therapeutics by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,004,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,415,000 after buying an additional 20,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Vera Therapeutics by 94.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 85,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,774,000 after buying an additional 41,394 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.21% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Marshall Fordyce sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.74, for a total value of $730,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 143,603 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,993,989.22. This represents a 10.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 52,500 shares of company stock worth $2,305,625 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 21.70% of the company’s stock.

Vera Therapeutics Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ VERA opened at $37.28 on Monday. Vera Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.77 and a fifty-two week high of $51.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 13.76 and a current ratio of 13.76. The company has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.28 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.94.

Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.85) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.64) by ($0.21). On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vera Therapeutics, Inc. will post -2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VERA shares. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Vera Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Vera Therapeutics from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Vera Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Vera Therapeutics from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.50.

About Vera Therapeutics

Vera Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing and commercializing treatments for patients with serious immunological diseases. Its lead product candidate is atacicept, a fusion protein self-administered as a subcutaneous injection that is in Phase III clinical trial for patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy; and for treatment of lupus nephritis that is in Phase II clinical trial.