Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Director Sells $85,500.00 in Stock

Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Director Michael Kauffman sold 8,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total value of $85,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,660. This trade represents a 49.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Verastem Trading Up 3.7%

Shares of VSTM stock opened at $10.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. Verastem, Inc. has a twelve month low of $3.45 and a twelve month high of $11.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $8.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.59. The stock has a market cap of $709.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.64 and a beta of 0.89.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.51) by ($0.84). The business had revenue of $11.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.76 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verastem, Inc. will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSTM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 55,394 shares during the period. BVF Inc. IL grew its position in shares of Verastem by 62.1% during the second quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 3,404,425 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,957 shares during the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verastem by 28.5% during the second quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 2,954,735 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,262,000 after acquiring an additional 656,194 shares during the last quarter. Vivo Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verastem by 71.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 2,644,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,524 shares during the period. Finally, Foresite Capital Management VI LLC raised its position in Verastem by 104.9% in the 3rd quarter. Foresite Capital Management VI LLC now owns 2,615,120 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $23,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,338,600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on VSTM. B. Riley raised shares of Verastem to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Verastem to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Verastem in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $13.00 price target on Verastem and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Mizuho set a $15.00 target price on Verastem in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verastem presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.29.

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.