Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Short Interest Update

Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,320,000 shares, a growth of 22.8% from the February 28th total of 5,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days. Currently, 16.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VSTM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Mizuho raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Verastem from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. B. Riley increased their target price on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Verastem from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verastem has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.88.

Insider Transactions at Verastem

In related news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 347,581 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,960 shares of company stock worth $53,498. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Verastem

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VSTM. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Verastem in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,400,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verastem by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 3,752,583 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $19,401,000 after acquiring an additional 19,250 shares during the last quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verastem in the fourth quarter valued at $13,778,000. BVF Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of Verastem by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 2,100,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,859,000 after acquiring an additional 415,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Verastem by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 948,790 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,906,000 after purchasing an additional 58,191 shares in the last quarter. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verastem Stock Down 3.5 %

VSTM opened at $5.82 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $299.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.82 and a beta of 0.60. Verastem has a one year low of $2.10 and a one year high of $13.52. The business’s fifty day moving average is $6.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.83.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 anticipate that Verastem will post -3.02 EPS for the current fiscal 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.