Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Price Target to $14.00

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) had its target price reduced by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $16.00 to $14.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 110.53% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VSTM. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Verastem in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of Verastem in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.38.

Verastem Trading Down 2.5 %

NASDAQ:VSTM opened at $6.65 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $6.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.63. Verastem has a 12 month low of $2.10 and a 12 month high of $13.52. The company has a current ratio of 3.23, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77. The stock has a market cap of $295.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.08 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Verastem

In other news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of Verastem stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total value 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. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,988 shares of company stock worth $53,608. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verastem

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Verastem by 51.5% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares during the period. FMR LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verastem in the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Verastem by 55.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,878 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 6,016 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verastem in the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verastem during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.