Mizuho Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Stock

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) had its target price raised by Mizuho from $7.00 to $9.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on VSTM. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Verastem in a research note on Monday, September 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $13.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Verastem in a report on Friday, October 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Verastem in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Verastem in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

Verastem Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ VSTM opened at $4.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.48 million, a P/E ratio of -1.31 and a beta of 0.22. Verastem has a 1-year low of $2.10 and a 1-year high of $14.22. The business’s 50 day moving average is $4.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.30. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.60) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.71) by $0.11. As a group, research analysts expect that Verastem will post -3.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Verastem

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verastem in the third quarter worth $3,918,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verastem in the second quarter valued at about $1,192,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verastem by 67.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 890,599 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,663,000 after acquiring an additional 359,060 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Verastem by 493.7% during the third quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 216,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $646,000 after acquiring an additional 179,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Verastem during the second quarter valued at about $203,000. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by 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.