Analysts Set Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Target Price at $13.63

Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.88.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VSTM. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verastem from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Mizuho raised their price objective on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verastem

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total value of $44,896.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 347,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,821,324.44. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,960 shares of company stock worth $53,498. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verastem

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VSTM. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Verastem during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,400,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Verastem by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 3,752,583 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $19,401,000 after buying an additional 19,250 shares during the last quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verastem during the 4th quarter valued at $13,778,000. BVF Inc. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Verastem by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 2,100,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,859,000 after buying an additional 415,249 shares during the period. Finally, Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verastem in the 3rd quarter worth $3,918,000. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verastem Stock Performance

Verastem stock opened at $6.88 on Thursday. Verastem has a fifty-two week low of $2.10 and a fifty-two week high of $13.52. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a current ratio of 3.23. The stock has a market cap of $306.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.16 and a beta of 0.60.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by ($0.57). As a group, analysts expect that Verastem will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.