Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM)’s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $4.55 and traded as high as $7.22. Verastem shares last traded at $6.71, with a volume of 615,857 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VSTM. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Verastem in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Verastem in a research report on Friday, January 24th. B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verastem presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.63.

Verastem Price Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $303.54 million, a PE ratio of -2.14 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $6.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.58.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by ($0.57). On average, equities analysts predict 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 dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,053 shares of company stock worth $53,890. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSTM. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Verastem in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,400,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC raised its position in Verastem by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 3,752,583 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $19,401,000 after purchasing an additional 19,250 shares during the last quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verastem during the 4th quarter worth $13,778,000. BVF Inc. IL grew its position in Verastem by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 2,100,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,859,000 after purchasing an additional 415,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verastem in the third quarter valued at about $3,918,000. Hedge funds and other 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.