Royal Bank of Canada Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Stock Price

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) had its price objective lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $16.00 to $14.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on VSTM. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Verastem in a report on Thursday, December 19th. B. Riley raised their target price on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho raised their target price on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Verastem in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their target price on Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verastem currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.38.

Verastem Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of VSTM stock opened at $6.65 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.61. 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 has a market capitalization of $295.97 million, a PE ratio of -2.08 and a beta of 0.60. Verastem has a fifty-two week low of $2.10 and a fifty-two week high of $13.52.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.76) by ($0.57). Equities analysts expect that Verastem will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verastem

In other news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total value of $44,896.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 347,581 shares in the company, valued at $1,821,324.44. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,988 shares of company stock valued at $53,608. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verastem

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Verastem in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,400,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verastem by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 3,752,583 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $19,401,000 after acquiring an additional 19,250 shares in the last quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verastem in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,778,000. BVF Inc. IL lifted its position in shares of Verastem by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 2,100,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,859,000 after acquiring an additional 415,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verastem in the third quarter valued at approximately $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.