Barclays PLC Has $167,000 Stake in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM)

Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) by 546.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 55,708 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,094 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.13% of Verastem worth $167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verastem by 67.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 890,599 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,663,000 after buying an additional 359,060 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Verastem during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $112,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Verastem by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 424,264 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,269,000 after buying an additional 65,265 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 11,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Verastem by 493.7% during the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 216,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 179,725 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $1,821,324.44. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 10,321 shares of company stock valued at $52,217 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Verastem in a research report on Monday, September 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $13.00 price target for the company. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.38.

Verastem Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of VSTM opened at $5.52 on Thursday. Verastem, Inc. has a 1-year low of $2.10 and a 1-year high of $14.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4.88 and a 200 day moving average of $3.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.73 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.23 and a quick ratio of 3.23.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.60) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.71) by $0.11. On average, research analysts expect that Verastem, Inc. will post -3.02 EPS for the current 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.