Plc Gsk Purchases 2,791,930 Shares of Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) Stock

Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) major shareholder Plc Gsk acquired 2,791,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.00 per share, for a total transaction of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 16,775,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,205,528. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Wave Life Sciences Trading Up 6.4 %

WVE stock opened at $8.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.98 and a beta of -1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $6.11 and a 200-day moving average of $5.86. Wave Life Sciences Ltd. has a 12-month low of $3.50 and a 12-month high of $9.92.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $19.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.80 million. Wave Life Sciences had a negative return on equity of 1,395.99% and a negative net margin of 66.50%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.20) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wave Life Sciences Ltd. will post -1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WVE has been the topic of several analyst reports. HC Wainwright lifted their target price on shares of Wave Life Sciences from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Wave Life Sciences in a research note on Friday, September 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $13.00 target price for the company. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on Wave Life Sciences in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wave Life Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wave Life Sciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WVE. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Wave Life Sciences during the 2nd quarter valued at about $668,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 39.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,834,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,316,000 after purchasing an additional 521,665 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wave Life Sciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $174,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 62.2% during the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 908,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,531,000 after purchasing an additional 348,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Wave Life Sciences by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 54,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.