Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Stock Price Target Raised at Mizuho

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at Mizuho from $13.00 to $14.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Mizuho’s price objective points to a potential upside of 51.68% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research began coverage on Verastem in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 price target (up from $11.00) on shares of Verastem in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings cut Verastem from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Verastem in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Verastem from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verastem presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.67.

Verastem Stock Performance

Shares of Verastem stock opened at $9.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 2.22. The firm has a market cap of $835.90 million, a P/E ratio of -3.47 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.94. Verastem has a fifty-two week low of $3.43 and a fifty-two week high of $10.82.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.08. Verastem had a negative return on equity of 467.49% and a negative net margin of 231.59%. The firm had revenue of $40.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.88 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Verastem will post -1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 44,121 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total value of $352,968.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 652,712 shares in the company, valued at $5,221,696. This represents a 6.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 48,044 shares of company stock valued at $381,484 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verastem

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AIGH Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verastem during the 1st quarter valued at $10,600,000. Opaleye Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verastem in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,876,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verastem by 157.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 569,195 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 347,872 shares during the last quarter. Exome Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verastem by 58.5% in the 1st quarter. Exome Asset Management LLC now owns 636,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,375,000 after purchasing an additional 234,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Verastem in the 2nd quarter worth $706,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

About Verastem

Verastem Oncology (NASDAQ:VSTM) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing targeted therapies for cancers driven by abnormalities in the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway. The company’s research is aimed at addressing cancers with limited treatment options, including ovarian cancer and other solid tumors.

Verastem’s lead product, avutometinib, is a treatment targeting the RAF/MEK signaling pathway and is marketed in the United States under the brand name Avmapki for certain patients with recurrent low-grade serous ovarian cancer.