Nuveen LLC Acquires Shares of 50,633 Verastem, Inc. $VSTM

Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 50,633 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $305,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verastem in the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in Verastem in the fourth quarter valued at $387,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Verastem by 30.5% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 39,593 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $205,000 after acquiring an additional 9,254 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of Verastem by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 20,571 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 6,012 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verastem during the first quarter worth about $1,631,000. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VSTM. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on shares of Verastem from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Zacks Research raised Verastem to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. B. Riley raised Verastem to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Verastem from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Verastem from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $13.29.

Verastem Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of VSTM opened at $10.77 on Friday. Verastem, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2.34 and a twelve month high of $11.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $662.84 million, a P/E ratio of -3.28 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 3.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $6.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.45.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.64) by $0.25. The business had revenue of $2.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.01 million. On average, research analysts predict that Verastem, Inc. will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 17,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.13, for a total transaction of $91,355.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 443,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,276,894.07. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,488 shares of company stock worth $127,149. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.