Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Price Target to $14.00

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

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on VSTM. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Verastem in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho upped 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. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Verastem in a report on Friday, January 24th. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.38.

Verastem Trading Down 2.5 %

VSTM stock opened at $6.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.23, a current ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77. Verastem has a twelve month low of $2.10 and a twelve month high of $13.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $295.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.08 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.64.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last posted 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). As a group, analysts anticipate that Verastem will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total transaction of $44,896.32. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 9,988 shares of company stock worth $53,608 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verastem

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VSTM. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Verastem by 51.5% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC purchased a new position in Verastem during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Verastem by 55.4% during 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 purchased a new position in Verastem during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Verastem during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. 88.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.