Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Upgraded at Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) from an outperform rating to a moderate buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has $12.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $16.00.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho dropped their price target on Verastem from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Verastem in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 18th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Verastem from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Verastem from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verastem has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.38.

Verastem Stock Performance

Shares of VSTM stock opened at $4.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $228.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.30 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.98. Verastem has a 12-month low of $2.10 and a 12-month high of $9.10. The company has a current ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 3.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.96) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.72) by ($0.24). On average, equities analysts forecast that Verastem will post -3.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Verastem

In related news, CFO Daniel Calkins sold 11,143 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.13, for a total transaction of $90,592.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 114,055 shares in the company, valued at $927,267.15. The trade was a 8.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dan Paterson sold 17,808 shares of Verastem stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.13, for a total value of $91,355.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 443,839 shares in the company, valued at $2,276,894.07. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 93,796 shares of company stock worth $693,033. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verastem

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in Verastem by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Verastem by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,680 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 2,281 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verastem by 3.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 117,784 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $710,000 after buying an additional 4,183 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verastem by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 19,932 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 4,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Verastem by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,445 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 5,737 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

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.