Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $457,000 Stake in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 9,503 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.20% of Verastem worth $457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Verastem by 46.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 103,601 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 32,791 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC acquired a new stake in Verastem in the third quarter worth $41,000. Walleye Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Verastem by 493.7% during the third quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 216,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 179,725 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Verastem by 62.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 30,339 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 11,642 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Verastem by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 424,264 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,269,000 after buying an additional 65,265 shares in the last quarter. 88.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verastem Stock Up 5.2 %

NASDAQ:VSTM opened at $6.73 on Friday. Verastem, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2.10 and a twelve month high of $13.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $346.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.11 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $6.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.73.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last released its 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). Equities research analysts expect that Verastem, Inc. will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total transaction of $44,896.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 9,960 shares of company stock valued at $53,498 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. BTIG Research lifted 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. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Verastem from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Verastem from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. 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 note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Verastem from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verastem has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.88.

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.