BTIG Research Reaffirms Buy Rating for Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM)

Key Points

• BTIG Research has reaffirmed a buy rating for Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM), setting a target price of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 95.50% from its current price.
• Verastem recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of ($0.39), exceeding the consensus estimate, but its revenue of $2.14 million fell short of expectations.
• The company's stock has faced recent insider selling, with CEO Dan Paterson selling 17,808 shares, representing a 3.86% decrease in his position.

BTIG Research reiterated their buy rating on shares of Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM - Free Report) in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. BTIG Research currently has a $20.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company's stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Verastem to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verastem from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. B. Riley raised shares of Verastem to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Verastem from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $13.29.

Verastem Trading Up 4.0%

Shares of VSTM traded up $0.37 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.72. 1,766,860 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,873,712. Verastem has a twelve month low of $2.54 and a twelve month high of $11.24. The stock has a market cap of $598.22 million, a PE ratio of -2.96 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.56. The company has a quick ratio of 3.44, a current ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Verastem will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Verastem

In related news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 17,808 shares of Verastem stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.13, for a total value of $91,355.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 443,839 shares in the company, valued at $2,276,894.07. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 24,488 shares of company stock valued at $127,149 in the last ninety days. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Verastem by 51.5% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verastem during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Voya Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verastem during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verastem during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verastem during the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other 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.