Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.38.

Several research firms have commented on VSTM. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Mizuho increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Verastem in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Verastem in a research note on Monday, September 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $13.00 price objective for the company.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verastem

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verastem in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,918,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 valued at $2,663,000 after buying an additional 359,060 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew 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 valued at $1,269,000 after buying an additional 65,265 shares in the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verastem in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,192,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC grew its stake in Verastem by 493.7% in the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 216,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $646,000 after buying an additional 179,725 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

Verastem Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VSTM opened at $5.73 on Friday. Verastem has a fifty-two week low of $2.10 and a fifty-two week high of $14.22. The stock has a market cap of $255.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.80 and a beta of 0.24. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.46.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.60) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.71) by $0.11. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verastem will post -3.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.