Cathie Wood Loads Up $23M In Gene-Editing Company's Shares

Ark’s actively managed funds will continue to be managed by Cathie Wood, who will retain her position as chief executive
Verve is the 12th largest holding in the ARK ETF
William Scherer has been appointed to manage the funds on a day-to-day basis

Ark Investment Management, led by Cathie Wood, increased its stake in Verve Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage genetics medicine company, through two of its exchange-traded funds on Friday.

Based on Friday’s closing price, the flagship ARK Innovation ETF and the ARK Genomic Revolution ETF purchased more than 675,000 shares, totaling more than $23 million.

According to the information provided by the company, Verve is the 12th largest holding in the ARK Genomic Revolution ETF, with a value of more than $85 million and a weight of more than 3.62 percent.

Verve announced the clearance of its Clinical Trial Authorisation

Verve announced on September 21 that the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved its Clinical Trial Authorisation (CTA) application for VERVE-101 as a potential treatment for heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH).

Verve stated that it is currently enrolling patients in its heart-1 clinical trial of VERVE-101 for HeFH in New Zealand and anticipates beginning patient enrollment in the United Kingdom shortly. On Friday, shares of Verve Therapeutics closed down more than 3%. Over the past month, the stock has lost more than 10%.

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Cathie Woods Hands over management of a pair of Ark Funds

Cathie Wood, the founder, and chief executive officer of Ark Invest, has resigned from two of her funds’ management positions.

Scherer started managing the two funds this month, which have more than $310 million in assets under management. At Ark Invest, he previously held the position of trading manager.

Wood will keep her position as chief executive officer and continue to oversee all of Ark’s actively managed funds.

Sam Korus and Nicholas Grous were appointed associate portfolio managers by Wood earlier this year. Wood had been the company’s only portfolio manager up until that point.

Brett Winton was recently elevated to the position of chief futurist at Ark.

The ARK Innovation ETF, Ark’s once-exciting flagship fund, is down nearly 70% over the past year and has fallen more than 60% year-to-date. The flurry of management changes appears to indicate that Wood is beginning to consider a succession plan for Ark.

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