Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Trading 6.4% Higher – Should You Buy?

Shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) traded up 6.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $7.02 and last traded at $7.00. Approximately 1,119,111 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 2,233,417 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on VSTM. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Verastem in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen cut Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Guggenheim set a $12.00 target price on Verastem and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Mizuho set a $13.00 target price on Verastem and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Verastem from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.83.

Verastem Trading Up 6.4%

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $5.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.38. The company has a market capitalization of $633.92 million, a P/E ratio of -2.63 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 2.22.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $40.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.88 million. Verastem had a negative net margin of 231.59% and a negative return on equity of 467.49%. As a group, analysts forecast that Verastem, Inc. will post -1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Verastem

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 20,871 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.18, for a total value of $87,240.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 591,242 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,391.56. This represents a 3.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 26,262 shares of company stock valued at $111,897 over the last ninety days. 1.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verastem

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. RTW Investments LP increased its stake in Verastem by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 6,576,306 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $50,769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150,000 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Verastem by 270.7% in the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 3,925,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,302,000 after buying an additional 2,866,350 shares during the period. Armistice Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verastem by 68.7% in the fourth quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 3,536,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,298,000 after buying an additional 1,440,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Verastem by 1.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,479,011 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $30,720,000 after acquiring an additional 55,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Verastem by 44.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,219,295 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $24,853,000 after acquiring an additional 990,655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

About Verastem

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.