BVF Inc. IL Buys 415,249 Shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM)

BVF Inc. IL lifted its stake in shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM - Free Report) by 24.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,100,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 415,249 shares during the period. BVF Inc. IL owned approximately 4.72% of Verastem worth $10,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Verastem by 51.5% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,997 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Verastem by 55.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,878 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 6,016 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verastem during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in shares of Verastem in the fourth quarter worth about $74,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Verastem by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,680 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 2,281 shares during the last quarter. 88.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VSTM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Verastem from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Verastem in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, B. Riley raised their target price on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.89.

Verastem Stock Down 6.8 %

Shares of VSTM stock traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $6.53. 1,247,472 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,041,496. Verastem, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2.10 and a 1 year high of $13.52. The firm has a market cap of $336.23 million, a PE ratio of -2.05 and a beta of 0.85. The company's 50 day moving average is $6.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.23, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by ($0.57). On average, equities research analysts predict that Verastem, Inc. will post -3.02 EPS for the current year.

Verastem Company Profile

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.