WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) Trading Down 4.3% – Time to Sell?

WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE)’s stock price was down 4.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $4.82 and last traded at $4.7550. 356,537 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 3,805,564 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.97.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WVE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of WAVE Life Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group set a $13.00 target price on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of WAVE Life Sciences in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of WAVE Life Sciences from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.53.

WAVE Life Sciences Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $5.70 and its 200-day moving average is $7.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $936.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.37 and a beta of -1.26.

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.34) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.04). WAVE Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 309.73% and a negative return on equity of 50.36%. The business had revenue of $2.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.45 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. will post -1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Heidi L. Wagner sold 7,000 shares of WAVE Life Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.01, for a total value of $42,070.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 44,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $270,029.30. The trade was a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Adrian Rawcliffe sold 12,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.29, for a total transaction of $67,183.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 23,564 shares of company stock worth $132,476 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 24.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WAVE Life Sciences

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 6,729.0% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 2,086 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of WAVE Life Sciences by 645.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,942 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in WAVE Life Sciences by 1,441.6% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 9,284 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in WAVE Life Sciences by 44.8% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaGrep UK Ltd purchased a new position in WAVE Life Sciences in the second quarter worth approximately $78,000. 89.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About WAVE Life Sciences

WAVE Life Sciences is a clinical-stage genetic medicines company focused on the discovery and development of stereopure oligonucleotide therapies designed to address serious diseases with high unmet medical need. Leveraging proprietary chemistry and precision synthesis, WAVE engineers drug candidates with defined stereochemistry to optimize potency, safety and manufacturability. This approach aims to enhance target specificity and improve therapeutic profiles compared with traditional oligonucleotide medicines.

The company’s pipeline includes programs in neuromuscular disorders such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and neurodegenerative conditions including Huntington’s disease, as well as early-stage cardiovascular and liver indications.