Verastem’s (VSTM) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Guggenheim

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Guggenheim in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on VSTM. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Verastem in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Verastem from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Verastem in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verastem presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.38.

Verastem Stock Performance

Shares of VSTM stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $5.69. The stock had a trading volume of 131,925 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,659,887. The company has a quick ratio of 3.23, a current ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77. The firm has a market cap of $253.24 million, a PE ratio of -1.78 and a beta of 0.24. Verastem has a one year low of $2.10 and a one year high of $14.22. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.63.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.60) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.71) by $0.11. On average, analysts forecast that Verastem will post -3.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total transaction of $44,896.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 347,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,821,324.44. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 10,321 shares of company stock worth $52,217 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verastem

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verastem during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,918,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verastem by 67.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 890,599 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,663,000 after purchasing an additional 359,060 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Verastem by 18.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 424,264 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,269,000 after acquiring an additional 65,265 shares in the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verastem in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,192,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC lifted its stake in Verastem by 493.7% in the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 216,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 179,725 shares in the last quarter. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Verastem

Verastem, Inc, a development-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing drugs for the treatment of cancer in the United States. Its product candidates are Avutometinib, an orally available small molecule RAF/MEK clamp that inhibits the ras sarcoma RAF/MEK, ERK mitogen activated pathway kinase pathway which is involved in cell proliferation, migration, transformation, and survival of tumor cells; and Defactinib, an oral small molecule inhibitor of FAK and proline-rich tyrosine kinase for various solid tumors.