Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Receives $14.29 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.2857.

VSTM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Verastem in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen cut Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. B. Riley upgraded shares of Verastem to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Verastem in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Verastem from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th.

Verastem Stock Performance

Shares of Verastem stock opened at $10.34 on Tuesday. Verastem has a 1-year low of $3.45 and a 1-year high of $11.24. The company has a market cap of $690.51 million, a PE ratio of -2.57 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.95 and a 200-day moving average of $7.63.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.35) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.51) by ($0.84). The company had revenue of $11.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.76 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verastem will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 3,299 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.74, for a total transaction of $32,132.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 438,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,274,087.32. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael Kauffman sold 8,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $85,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,660. This trade represents a 49.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 37,772 shares of company stock worth $371,945 over the last quarter. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verastem

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verastem by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,479,011 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $30,720,000 after buying an additional 55,394 shares during the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL boosted its position in Verastem by 62.1% in the second quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 3,404,425 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,957 shares during the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verastem by 28.5% in the second quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 2,954,735 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,262,000 after purchasing an additional 656,194 shares during the last quarter. Vivo Capital LLC grew its stake in Verastem by 71.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 2,644,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106,524 shares during the period. Finally, Foresite Capital Management VI LLC increased its position in shares of Verastem by 104.9% during the 3rd quarter. Foresite Capital Management VI LLC now owns 2,615,120 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,338,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.37% 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.