Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Price Target Lowered to $8.00 at Mizuho

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) had its price objective decreased by investment analysts at Mizuho from $9.00 to $8.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Mizuho’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 72.41% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on VSTM. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. B. Riley increased their price target on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Verastem from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. BTIG Research upped their target price on Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Verastem from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verastem presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.75.

Verastem Stock Down 9.0 %

Shares of VSTM opened at $4.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $6.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.91. Verastem has a one year low of $2.10 and a one year high of $13.52. 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 capitalization of $238.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.45 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of Verastem stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total transaction of $44,896.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 347,581 shares in the company, valued at $1,821,324.44. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,954 shares of company stock valued at $53,457. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verastem

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VSTM. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verastem by 46.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 103,601 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 32,791 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verastem in the 3rd quarter valued at $41,000. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Verastem by 62.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 30,339 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 11,642 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Verastem by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 424,264 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,269,000 after acquiring an additional 65,265 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Verastem in the 3rd quarter valued at about $112,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

About Verastem

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.