Verastem's (VSTM) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Guggenheim

Guggenheim restated their buy rating on shares of Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM - Free Report) in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Verastem in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Verastem from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Mizuho boosted their target price on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verastem from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Verastem presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.38.

Verastem Stock Performance

Shares of VSTM traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $5.92. The stock had a trading volume of 752,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,280,366. 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 has a 12 month low of $2.10 and a 12 month high of $14.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $263.50 million, a PE ratio of -1.86 and a beta of 0.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $4.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.65.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.60) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.71) by $0.11. Analysts anticipate that Verastem will post -3.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Verastem

In other news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 347,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,821,324.44. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,321 shares of company stock worth $52,217. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stonepine Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Verastem in the third quarter worth approximately $3,918,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verastem by 67.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 890,599 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,663,000 after acquiring an additional 359,060 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Verastem by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 424,264 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,269,000 after acquiring an additional 65,265 shares in the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verastem during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,192,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC boosted its position in Verastem by 493.7% during the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 216,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $646,000 after acquiring an additional 179,725 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.37% of the company's stock.

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.