Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS) Shares Down 8.1% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Erasca shares fell 8.1% to about $15.44 in Thursday midday trading, while trading volume was 94% below its average.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $22.09, with eight Buy, two Hold, and one Sell rating.
• Erasca reported a quarterly loss of $0.14 per share, missing analysts’ expected loss of $0.11 per share; institutional investors own 67.78% of its stock.

Erasca, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 8.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $15.20 and last traded at $15.4410. Approximately 363,784 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 5,795,134 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.80.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ERAS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Erasca from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Erasca from $12.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Bank of America upped their target price on Erasca from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Erasca in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their price target on shares of Erasca from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Erasca has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.09.

Erasca Trading Down 5.1%

The company has a 50-day moving average of $14.98 and a 200-day moving average of $15.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.83 and a beta of 0.68.

Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.11) by ($0.03). On average, research analysts forecast that Erasca, Inc. will post -0.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ERAS. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Erasca by 295.5% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 216,614 shares of the company's stock worth $3,505,000 after purchasing an additional 161,845 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Erasca during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,162,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Erasca during the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,853,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Erasca during the 2nd quarter worth about $387,544,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Erasca during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,500,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.78% of the company's stock.

About Erasca

Erasca, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing medicines for cancer. Its research centers on the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway, which is involved in the growth of many tumors and can be difficult to target with existing therapies. The company's pipeline includes investigational drug candidates designed to inhibit RAS proteins and other targets in the pathway. Erasca evaluates these candidates for potential use across multiple cancer types; its medicines remain in development rather than being marketed as approved treatments.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.