Investors Purchase High Volume of Erasca Call Options (NASDAQ:ERAS)

Erasca, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 4,075 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 104% compared to the average volume of 2,001 call options.

Insider Activity at Erasca

In other news, General Counsel Ebun Garner sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.59, for a total transaction of $670,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 25,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $140,174.84. This represents a 82.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 14.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Erasca

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Erasca by 594.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 396,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 339,177 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in Erasca by 130.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 36,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 20,558 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in Erasca in the second quarter worth $87,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Erasca in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Erasca by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,835,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,143,000 after purchasing an additional 77,790 shares during the period. 67.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Erasca Stock Performance

Shares of Erasca stock traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $11.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,296,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,329,127. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.64. The company has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.86 and a beta of 1.21. Erasca has a one year low of $1.01 and a one year high of $12.48.

Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). As a group, research analysts forecast that Erasca will post -0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ERAS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Erasca in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Mizuho began coverage on Erasca in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Erasca from $5.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Erasca in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price target on Erasca in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.22.

About Erasca

Erasca, Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of precision medicines for patients with cancer. The company focuses on small molecule therapeutics that target critical signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and survival, with a primary emphasis on inhibitors of the MAPK pathway. Erasca’s approach is designed to deliver oral, targeted therapies that address both oncogene‐driven and immuno‐oncology indications, aiming to improve outcomes for patients with unmet medical needs.

Erasca’s pipeline comprises multiple development candidates, including small molecule inhibitors engineered to disrupt key nodes in cancer cell signaling.