Insider Selling: Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA) Insider Sells 25,461 Shares of Stock

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA) insider Joe Bonaccorso sold 25,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.06, for a total value of $179,754.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 106,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $754,932.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 6.2 %

VRCA traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $7.50. The stock had a trading volume of 287,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 191,165. Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a 52 week low of $2.86 and a 52 week high of $11.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a current ratio of 3.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $318.15 million, a P/E ratio of -4.29 and a beta of 1.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.75.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.54) by $0.10. Verrica Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 229.26% and a negative net margin of 905.83%. The business had revenue of $3.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post -1.57 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRCA. BML Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. BML Capital Management LLC now owns 180,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,318,000 after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,999,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,280,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045,935 shares in the last quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 7,099,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,966,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,268,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,511,000 after acquiring an additional 7,609 shares during the period. 42.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VRCA shares. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th.

About Verrica Pharmaceuticals

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.