Barclays PLC Acquires 47,094 Shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM)

Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM - Free Report) by 546.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 55,708 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 47,094 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned 0.13% of Verastem worth $167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verastem by 67.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 890,599 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,663,000 after buying an additional 359,060 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Verastem in the third quarter valued at approximately $112,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Verastem by 18.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 424,264 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,269,000 after purchasing an additional 65,265 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Verastem by 62.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 30,339 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 11,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verastem by 493.7% in the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 216,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $646,000 after buying an additional 179,725 shares during the period. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verastem Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VSTM traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $5.57. The company had a trading volume of 679,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,753,492. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.61. Verastem, Inc. has a one year low of $2.10 and a one year high of $14.22. The company has a market capitalization of $247.74 million, a PE ratio of -1.73 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 3.23, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.60) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.71) by $0.11. On average, equities analysts expect that Verastem, Inc. will post -3.02 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VSTM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Mizuho increased their target price on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verastem from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Verastem in a report on Monday, September 30th. They set a "buy" rating and a $13.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $13.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verastem

In other news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the company'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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 10,321 shares of company stock valued at $52,217 in the last quarter. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verastem 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.