Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Receives $13.89 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) have earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.89.

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Verastem from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday.

Institutional Trading of Verastem

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Verastem by 51.5% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC purchased a new position in Verastem in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Verastem by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,878 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 6,016 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verastem during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verastem during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verastem Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VSTM opened at $5.74 on Monday. Verastem has a 1 year low of $2.10 and a 1 year high of $13.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $295.55 million, a P/E ratio of -1.80 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $5.95 and its 200 day moving average is $5.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.23 and a quick ratio of 3.23.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last posted its earnings results 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). On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verastem will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current 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.