Squarepoint Ops LLC Makes New $92,000 Investment in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM)

Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 17,865 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,400,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verastem by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 3,752,583 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $19,401,000 after purchasing an additional 19,250 shares in the last quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem in the 4th quarter valued at about $13,778,000. BVF Inc. IL raised its stake in shares of Verastem by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 2,100,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,859,000 after purchasing an additional 415,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verastem by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 948,790 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,906,000 after purchasing an additional 58,191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

Verastem Stock Down 4.8%

Shares of VSTM opened at $6.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $335.74 million, a P/E ratio of -1.92 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.23 and a quick ratio of 3.23. Verastem, Inc. has a one year low of $2.10 and a one year high of $9.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.98.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.96) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.72) by ($0.24). As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verastem, Inc. will post -3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VSTM shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Verastem from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Verastem from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Verastem from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verastem currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.63.

Insider Activity at Verastem

In other Verastem news, CFO Daniel Calkins sold 11,143 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.13, for a total transaction of $90,592.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 114,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $927,267.15. This represents a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Dan Paterson sold 58,677 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.13, for a total transaction of $477,044.01. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 461,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,755,913.66. This represents a 11.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 71,168 shares of company stock worth $577,292 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Verastem Company Profile

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.