A small quantitative investor, Trexquant Investment LP, has enlarged its quiet stake in Vera Therapeutics, a young biotechnology company working on treatments for serious immune diseases. The move, recorded in first-quarter filings, comes at a moment when the company's shares sit far below their earlier peak and its last quarterly loss was deeper than analysts had expected. In the larger story of capital chasing unproven medicine, such small adjustments are the ordinary pulse of markets, betting slowly on a drug that has not yet proven itself.
Trexquant Lifts Vera Therapeutics Stake 187% to 62,777 Shares in Q1 13F Filing
A 187% jump that amounts to about $1.5 million
Mark
Trexquant's stake jumped 187%. Is that a big bet on Vera?
Mimi
By percentage it looks large, but the position is 62,777 shares, worth about $1.5 million. Next to T. Rowe Price's 4.75 million shares, it is small.
Luke
Right, and the percentage is the least informative number here. Nothing in the report says why Trexquant bought. We only know the size of the change.
Mark
Who are the bigger holders?
Mimi
Integral Health holds 1.15 million shares, Paradigm Biocapital holds about 1.44 million, and Vestal Point opened a new stake worth about $45 million. Institutions own 99.21% of the stock overall.
Luke
Worth noting that several of those moves are fourth-quarter changes, so the timing differs from Trexquant's first-quarter filing. They aren't one synchronized trend.
Mark
The director also bought shares in June. Does that signal confidence?
Mimi
He bought 40,607 shares at $22.35, about $907,000. It's a documented purchase, and the stock has since traded around $24.
Luke
The filing shows what he did, not why. Reading it as confidence is an inference. And the earnings miss, $1.20 loss versus $0.82 expected, is just as documented.
Mark
What should a reader watch?
Mimi
The next earnings report, and the trial progress for atacicept.
Luke
Also the next 13F filings, which would show whether these holders added or trimmed. Analyst consensus is a MarketBeat aggregate, so treat the $63 target as one tally.
O Pulso
- Trexquant nearly tripled its Vera position in the first quarter, adding 40,913 shares to reach 62,777.
- Vera missed earnings badly, posting a $1.20 loss per share against an expected $0.82 loss.
- The stock trades near $24, roughly half its 52-week high of $51.61, leaving investors waiting on its lead drug atacicept.
- Analysts remain cautiously positive with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $63 target, while the next earnings report and 13F filings will show whether institutions keep buying.
A small quantitative investor, Trexquant Investment LP, has enlarged its quiet stake in Vera Therapeutics, a young biotechnology company working on treatments for serious immune diseases. The move, recorded in first-quarter filings, comes at a moment when the company's shares sit far below their earlier peak and its last quarterly loss was deeper than analysts had expected. In the larger story of capital chasing unproven medicine, such small adjustments are the ordinary pulse of markets, betting slowly on a drug that has not yet proven itself.
Trexquant Investment LP, an institutional investor, raised its holding in Vera Therapeutics by 187.1% in the first quarter, buying 40,913 shares and bringing its total to 62,777. The position, worth about $1.5 million, is small beside the larger holders in Vera's register.
Those larger holders have moved too. Vestal Point Capital opened a new stake worth roughly $45 million, while Integral Health and Paradigm Biocapital both expanded significantly in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price entities added to their positions in the first quarter. Insiders hold 16.3 percent of the company, and director Patrick G. Enright recently bought over 40,000 shares at about $22.35 each.
Analysts have been reviewing the company through the summer. HC Wainwright kept a buy rating with a $85 target, JPMorgan kept overweight but lowered its target to $53, and Wolfe Research held a peer perform view. Vera's most recent quarter brought a loss of $1.20 per share, well worse than the $0.82 loss expected.
The stock opened near $24 on Friday, far below its 52-week high of $51.61. Vera is developing atacicept, a self-administered treatment now in a Phase III trial for IgA nephropathy and a Phase II trial for lupus nephritis. Whether these investors keep adding to their positions will become clearer with the next earnings report and the next round of 13F filings.
Trexquant Investment LP, an institutional investor, increased its holding in Vera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERA) by 187.1% in the first quarter, according to HoldingsChannel. The firm bought 40,913 additional shares and now holds 62,777. As of its most recent SEC filing, the position was worth $1,508,000.
Trexquant is a small name among Vera's holders. Several larger investors also changed their positions. Vestal Point Capital LP opened a new stake in the fourth quarter worth about $45,462,000. Integral Health Asset Management LLC raised its holding by 130.0% in the fourth quarter, adding 650,000 shares to reach 1,150,000, worth $48,634,000. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP added 31.0% in the same quarter, buying 340,488 shares for a total of 1,437,339, valued at $60,785,000.
Two T. Rowe Price entities added in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position 8.6% by acquiring 377,783 shares, and now owns 4,754,832 shares valued at $114,212,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position 18.4% by acquiring 260,188 shares, and now owns 1,675,367 shares valued at $40,243,000. Hedge funds and other institutions together hold 99.21% of the stock, and insiders hold 16.30%.
One of those insiders recently bought more. Director Patrick G. Enright purchased 40,607 shares on Tuesday, June 24th, at an average of $22.35 per share, for a total of $907,566.45. He then owned 3,596,593 shares, valued at about $80,383,853.55. The purchase raised his ownership by 1.14% and was disclosed in an SEC filing.
Analysts have been weighing in over the summer. Wolfe Research reissued a "peer perform" rating on Monday, August 4th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" on Monday, June 2nd, with a target of $85.00, up from $75.00. Scotiabank restated "outperform" on June 3rd, and Guggenheim reissued "buy" the same day. JPMorgan Chase & Co. kept an "overweight" rating on Thursday, August 7th, but cut its target from $56.00 to $53.00. By MarketBeat.com's count, one analyst rates the stock Strong Buy, seven rate it Buy and two say Hold. The consensus is "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $63.00.
The stock opened at $24.19 on Friday. Its 52-week range runs from a low of $18.53 to a high of $51.61. The 50-day simple moving average is $22.19 and the 200-day is $23.39. Market capitalization is $1.54 billion, the price-to-earnings ratio is -6.76 and beta is 1.17. The balance sheet shows a quick ratio and current ratio of 17.03 each, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.
Vera reported earnings on Tuesday, August 5th: a loss of $1.20 per share, against a consensus estimate of a $0.82 loss, a miss of $0.38. A year earlier the company posted a loss of $0.62 per share. Analysts expect a full-year loss of $2.89 per share.
Vera is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing treatments for serious immunological diseases. Its lead candidate, atacicept, is a self-administered subcutaneous fusion protein. It is in a Phase III trial for IgA nephropathy and a Phase II trial for lupus nephritis. The next earnings report and the next round of 13F filings will show whether these investors keep adding to their positions.
Citações Notáveis
Raised its Vera Therapeutics stake by 187.1% in the first quarter, buying 40,913 additional shares.— HoldingsChannel, as reported by ETF Daily News
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