Driehaus Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE)

Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ:WVE) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,712,449 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 853,589 shares during the quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC owned about 4.40% of Wave Life Sciences worth $83,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WVE. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Wave Life Sciences by 63.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,098,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,074,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972,262 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in Wave Life Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at $20,545,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Wave Life Sciences by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,182,512 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,368,000 after buying an additional 294,956 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 3,162,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,119,000 after acquiring an additional 280,859 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Wave Life Sciences in the 4th quarter worth about $3,076,000. 89.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Wave Life Sciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Wave Life Sciences in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $10.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wedbush began coverage on shares of Wave Life Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Wave Life Sciences

In related news, Director Christian O. Henry sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.77, for a total transaction of $102,585.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,443.55. This trade represents a 39.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Paul Bolno sold 169,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.57, for a total transaction of $1,617,569.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 338,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,238,019.07. This represents a 33.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 29.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wave Life Sciences Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ WVE opened at $6.52 on Thursday. Wave Life Sciences Ltd. has a 52 week low of $4.25 and a 52 week high of $16.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.87 and a beta of -0.92. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $7.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.30.

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.34. The company had revenue of $83.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.60 million. Wave Life Sciences had a negative net margin of 66.50% and a negative return on equity of 280.57%. As a group, research analysts expect that Wave Life Sciences Ltd. will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

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.