Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS) Sees Large Volume Increase on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Stifel Nicolaus upgrade — Stifel raised its price target on Erasca from $20 to $30 and kept a buy rating, triggering heavy trading (about 9,927,533 shares, a 48% increase), yet the stock traded down roughly 50% intraday to $10.06 from a prior close of $19.15.
• Insider selling — Director Ebun Garner sold 80,000 shares at an average of $16.40 under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, cutting their stake by ~76%, and insiders now own 14.40% of the company.
• Analyst and institutional positioning — The consensus is a "Moderate Buy" (7 Buys, 1 Hold, 2 Sells) with an average target of $17.88, while institutional investors hold about 67.78% of the stock and several funds recently increased their positions significantly.

Erasca, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS - Get Free Report) shares saw strong trading volume on Tuesday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $30.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. 9,927,533 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 48% from the previous session's volume of 6,697,390 shares.The stock last traded at $10.0610 and had previously closed at $19.15.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on ERAS. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Erasca in a research note on Friday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Erasca from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Erasca in a research note on Monday, January 26th. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on shares of Erasca from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Erasca from $11.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $17.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ebun Garner sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $1,312,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 25,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at $411,246.40. This trade represents a 76.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Shannon Morris sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.04, for a total value of $300,800.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 14.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. VR Adviser LLC lifted its position in shares of Erasca by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. VR Adviser LLC now owns 17,857,083 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,678,000 after buying an additional 1,640,867 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Erasca by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 14,159,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,672,000 after buying an additional 599,078 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Erasca by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,811,832 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,930,000 after buying an additional 116,235 shares in the last quarter. Vivo Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Erasca by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 9,273,428 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,216,000 after buying an additional 2,516,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Erasca by 53.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,174,642 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,970,000 after buying an additional 2,145,386 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.78% of the company's stock.

Erasca Trading Down 50.0%

The stock has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of -21.67 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $16.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.96.

Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.01. Equities analysts expect that Erasca, Inc. will post -0.51 earnings per share for the current year.

About Erasca

Erasca, Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of precision medicines for patients with cancer. The company focuses on small molecule therapeutics that target critical signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and survival, with a primary emphasis on inhibitors of the MAPK pathway. Erasca's approach is designed to deliver oral, targeted therapies that address both oncogene‐driven and immuno‐oncology indications, aiming to improve outcomes for patients with unmet medical needs.

Erasca's pipeline comprises multiple development candidates, including small molecule inhibitors engineered to disrupt key nodes in cancer cell signaling.

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