HC Wainwright Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM)

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $18.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective points to a potential upside of 327.55% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on VSTM. BTIG Research dropped their price target on shares of Verastem from $19.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Verastem from $15.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Verastem from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Verastem from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verastem presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.20.

Verastem Stock Performance

Shares of VSTM stock opened at $4.21 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.04, a quick ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Verastem has a 12-month low of $3.55 and a 12-month high of $11.24. The business’s 50 day moving average is $4.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.02. The company has a market capitalization of $369.93 million, a P/E ratio of -1.56 and a beta of 0.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verastem by 78.2% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 62,603 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 27,477 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verastem by 236.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 756,402 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,561,000 after buying an additional 531,873 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verastem by 24.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,199,259 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,978,000 after buying an additional 238,995 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Verastem by 19.2% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 59,553 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 9,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Verastem by 40.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 52,063 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $216,000 after acquiring an additional 14,879 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

Verastem Company Profile

Verastem Oncology, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of small molecule therapies that target cancer stemness and resistance pathways. Established in 2010 and headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts, Verastem Oncology applies a precision-medicine approach to identify key signaling nodes responsible for tumor growth and relapse, with an emphasis on hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. The company’s research platform integrates insights into complex signaling networks to advance novel compounds from early discovery through clinical proof of concept.

The company’s lead marketed product is COPIKTRA (duvelisib), an oral inhibitor of PI3K-delta and PI3K-gamma, which received U.S.