Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Shares Acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,878 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 6,016 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Verastem were worth $50,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VSTM. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Verastem by 546.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,708 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 47,094 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Verastem by 67.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 890,599 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,663,000 after purchasing an additional 359,060 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Verastem during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $112,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Verastem by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 424,264 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,269,000 after acquiring an additional 65,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in Verastem by 62.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 30,339 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 11,642 shares in the last quarter. 88.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VSTM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Verastem in a report on Friday, October 18th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Verastem in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Verastem from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BTIG Research upped their price objective 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. Finally, B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.63.

Verastem Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VSTM opened at $5.87 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.79. The company has a market capitalization of $261.27 million, a P/E ratio of -1.84 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a current ratio of 3.23. Verastem, Inc. has a 52-week low of $2.10 and a 52-week high of $14.22.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 347,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,821,324.44. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,509 shares of company stock valued at $49,099. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.