Wells Fargo & Company MN Grows Stock Position in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM)

Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) by 41.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 20,571 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 6,012 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Verastem were worth $106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VSTM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Verastem by 55.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,878 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 6,016 shares during the last quarter. Aries Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Verastem by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Aries Wealth Management now owns 26,415 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Verastem by 546.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,708 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 47,094 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verastem by 152.8% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 36,515 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 22,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Verastem by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 37,629 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 10,352 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

Verastem Price Performance

Shares of VSTM stock opened at $7.17 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.23 and a quick ratio of 3.23. The firm has a market cap of $369.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.25 and a beta of 0.85. Verastem, Inc. has a one year low of $2.10 and a one year high of $13.52.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.33) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by ($0.57). On average, analysts expect that Verastem, Inc. will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim increased their target price on Verastem from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on Verastem from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Verastem in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Verastem from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verastem has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.33.

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.