Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Stock Price Up 8% – Time to Buy?

by · The Markets Daily

Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM – Get Free Report)’s share price traded up 8% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $9.89 and last traded at $9.9440. 3,140,326 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 24% from the average daily volume of 2,540,076 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.21.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on VSTM. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Verastem from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Verastem from $18.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 target price (up from $11.00) on shares of Verastem in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Verastem in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Verastem in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Eleven 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.67.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Verastem

Verastem Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $911.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.78 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 2.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.04.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.35) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $40.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.88 million. Verastem had a negative return on equity of 467.49% and a negative net margin of 231.59%. On average, analysts expect that Verastem, Inc. will post -1.51 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 44,121 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total transaction of $352,968.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 652,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,221,696. This represents a 6.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 48,044 shares of company stock worth $381,484 in the last three months. 1.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verastem

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Verastem by 15.3% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 110,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $587,000 after buying an additional 14,683 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Verastem by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 161,707 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 39,018 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Verastem during the 1st quarter valued at about $210,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verastem during the first quarter worth about $377,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem during the 1st quarter worth approximately $394,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

About Verastem

(Get Free Report)

Verastem, operating as Verastem Oncology, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing targeted therapies for cancer. The company’s research is centered on tumors driven by abnormalities in the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway, which can promote cancer-cell growth and resistance to treatment.

Verastem’s leading product candidates include avutometinib, an oral RAF/MEK clamp designed to inhibit signaling within the RAS/MAPK pathway, and defactinib, an oral focal adhesion kinase inhibitor.

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