HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM)

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at HC Wainwright in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $18.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 143.08% from the company’s previous close.

VSTM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $14.00 target price on Verastem and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Verastem from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Verastem from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th. Mizuho set a $13.00 price objective on shares of Verastem and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Guggenheim set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Verastem and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.83.

Verastem Price Performance

NASDAQ VSTM traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $7.41. 557,398 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,231,484. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 2.22. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.56. Verastem has a 1 year low of $3.43 and a 1 year high of $10.82. The company has a market cap of $670.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.78 and a beta of 0.32.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.43) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $40.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.88 million. Verastem had a negative return on equity of 467.49% and a negative net margin of 231.59%. On average, analysts predict that Verastem will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Verastem

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 20,871 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.18, for a total value of $87,240.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 591,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,471,391.56. The trade was a 3.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,262 shares of company stock valued at $111,897. 1.94% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Verastem

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VSTM. RTW Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Verastem by 21.2% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc raised its position in Verastem by 270.7% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 3,925,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,302,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866,350 shares during the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Verastem by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 3,536,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,298,000 after buying an additional 1,440,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Verastem by 1.6% in the 3rd 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. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Verastem by 44.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,219,295 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $24,853,000 after buying an additional 990,655 shares during the last quarter. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.