Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Upgraded to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

VSTM has been the topic of a number of other reports. B. Riley upgraded shares of Verastem to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Verastem from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Verastem in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Verastem to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verastem presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $13.29.

Verastem Price Performance

VSTM opened at $9.05 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.73. The firm has a market cap of $556.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.76 and a beta of 0.93. Verastem has a twelve month low of $2.54 and a twelve month high of $11.24. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 3.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.64) by $0.25. The company had revenue of $2.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.01 million. Equities research analysts expect that Verastem will post -3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verastem

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VSTM. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verastem during the 4th quarter worth about $56,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Verastem by 236.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 756,402 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,561,000 after acquiring an additional 531,873 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in Verastem during the 4th quarter worth about $387,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Verastem during the 1st quarter worth about $1,631,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Verastem during the 1st quarter worth about $305,000. 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.