Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.38.

VSTM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on Verastem from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Verastem from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Verastem from an “outperform” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $16.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Verastem in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock.

Verastem Stock Up 3.3%

NASDAQ:VSTM opened at $5.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $5.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.01. Verastem has a 52-week low of $2.10 and a 52-week high of $9.10. The company has a market capitalization of $289.59 million, a PE ratio of -1.65 and a beta of 0.71.

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

Insider Transactions at Verastem

In other news, CFO Daniel Calkins sold 11,143 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were 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 directly owned 114,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $927,267.15. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dan Paterson sold 17,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.13, for a total transaction of $91,355.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 443,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,276,894.07. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,796 shares of company stock worth $693,033 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem in the fourth quarter valued at about $20,400,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verastem by 0.5% in the fourth 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 during the period. AIGH Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verastem in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,778,000. BVF Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of Verastem by 24.6% in the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Octagon Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Verastem in the first quarter valued at approximately $10,372,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

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.