Torray Investment Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 216,387 Verastem, Inc. $VSTM

Key Points

• Torray Investment Partners bought a new stake of 216,387 shares in Verastem (≈$1.671M), representing about 0.32% ownership at the end of the quarter.
• Brokerage opinions are mixed: MarketBeat shows a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $16.60, while some firms (BTIG, HC Wainwright, Jefferies) maintain buy ratings and others (Weiss, Wall Street Zen) rate the stock a sell.
• Verastem trades near $6.04 (down 0.5%), has a market cap of about $530.6M, reported negative EPS (-$0.50 last quarter) with analysts forecasting ~-1.66 EPS for the year, and about 88% institutional ownership.

Torray Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 216,387 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $1,671,000. Torray Investment Partners LLC owned about 0.32% of Verastem at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Verastem by 182.9% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,578 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 2,960 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Verastem by 110.9% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,550 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 4,496 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem during the second quarter valued at about $49,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem during the second quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Verastem by 9.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 16,188 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,440 shares during the last quarter. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VSTM. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $19.00 price objective on shares of Verastem in a report on Monday. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Verastem in a report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Verastem in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verastem from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $15.00 price objective (down from $19.00) on shares of Verastem in a report on Monday, March 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $16.60.

Verastem Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ VSTM traded down $0.03 on Thursday, hitting $6.04. 187,318 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,953,884. The company has a market cap of $530.64 million, a PE ratio of -1.90 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 3.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. Verastem, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4.01 and a fifty-two week high of $11.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $5.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.36.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $17.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.85 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verastem, Inc. will post -1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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