Simplify Asset Management Inc. Sells 80,000 Shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA)

Simplify Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRCA) by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 200,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 80,000 shares during the quarter. Simplify Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.47% of Verrica Pharmaceuticals worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VRCA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,268,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,511,000 after buying an additional 7,609 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 8.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 58,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 4,393 shares in the last quarter. Key Financial Inc bought a new position in Verrica Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $69,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Verrica Pharmaceuticals by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 26,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,000 after purchasing an additional 4,514 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors own 42.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRCA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut Verrica Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $11.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Brookline Capital Management reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Verrica Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. HC Wainwright cut Verrica Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Verrica Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verrica Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.60.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRCA traded down $0.04 on Friday, hitting $0.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 110,500 shares, compared to its average volume of 466,608. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.90. Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a 1 year low of $0.70 and a 1 year high of $11.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.58, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by ($0.12). The company had revenue of ($1.78) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 million. Verrica Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 591.84% and a negative net margin of 625.06%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post -1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Profile

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.