Verastem, Inc. $VSTM Shares Acquired by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) by 236.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 756,402 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 531,873 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 1.38% of Verastem worth $4,561,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Octagon Capital Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Verastem in the 1st quarter valued at $10,372,000. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in Verastem in the fourth quarter valued at $3,742,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Verastem by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 339,264 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,754,000 after buying an additional 52,657 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem in the first quarter worth $1,631,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verastem during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,255,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VSTM shares. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Verastem in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. B. Riley upgraded shares of Verastem to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Verastem to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Verastem from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $13.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 17,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 443,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,276,894.07. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,275 shares of company stock worth $120,296. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Verastem Stock Performance

Verastem stock opened at $9.44 on Thursday. Verastem, Inc. has a 12-month low of $2.54 and a 12-month high of $11.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.67. The company has a quick ratio of 3.44, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $580.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.88 and a beta of 0.93.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.39) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.64) by $0.25. The business had revenue of $2.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.01 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verastem, Inc. will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verastem 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.