Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Verastem from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. 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. HC Wainwright upped their target price on Verastem from $7.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. B. Riley raised their target price on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verastem presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.88.

Verastem Stock Up 3.5 %

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

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 9,960 shares of company stock valued at $53,498 over the last three months. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verastem

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VSTM. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Verastem during the fourth quarter valued at $20,400,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verastem by 0.5% in 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem in the 4th quarter valued at $13,778,000. BVF Inc. IL raised its holdings in Verastem by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 2,100,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,859,000 after purchasing an additional 415,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonepine Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Verastem in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,918,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.