Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Erasca, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $5.81, but opened at $6.08. Erasca shares last traded at $6.3740, with a volume of 2,072,699 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ERAS shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $6.00 price target on shares of Erasca in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Erasca in a research report on Wednesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $5.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim increased their price target on Erasca from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Erasca in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Erasca from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4.44.

Erasca Trading Up 16.4%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.30. The company has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.02 and a beta of 1.15.

Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.11). As a group, research analysts forecast that Erasca, Inc. will post -0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Erasca

In other Erasca news, General Counsel Ebun Garner sold 120,000 shares of Erasca stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.59, for a total transaction of $670,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 25,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,174.84. The trade was a 82.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 14.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Erasca by 13.6% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 54,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 6,486 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Erasca by 58.0% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 21,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 7,923 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Erasca by 39.1% in the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 37,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 10,501 shares during the last quarter. Sio Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Erasca by 1.0% during the second quarter. Sio Capital Management LLC now owns 1,369,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,740,000 after acquiring an additional 13,562 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new position in Erasca during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 67.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Erasca

Erasca, Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of precision medicines for patients with cancer. The company focuses on small molecule therapeutics that target critical signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and survival, with a primary emphasis on inhibitors of the MAPK pathway. Erasca’s approach is designed to deliver oral, targeted therapies that address both oncogene‐driven and immuno‐oncology indications, aiming to improve outcomes for patients with unmet medical needs.

Erasca’s pipeline comprises multiple development candidates, including small molecule inhibitors engineered to disrupt key nodes in cancer cell signaling.