Walleye Capital LLC Sells 76,845 Shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM)

Walleye Capital LLC cut its stake in shares of Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM - Free Report) by 35.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 139,281 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 76,845 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC owned about 0.31% of Verastem worth $720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Verastem by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,445 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 5,737 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in Verastem during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $160,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Verastem by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,680 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 2,281 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in Verastem by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 20,571 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 6,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Verastem by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 948,790 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $4,906,000 after purchasing an additional 58,191 shares during the period. 88.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on VSTM. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verastem from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 18th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Verastem from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on 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 started coverage on Verastem in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Verastem from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.89.

Verastem Stock Performance

VSTM stock remained flat at $7.50 during mid-day trading on Friday. 1,802,783 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,005,214. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.21. The firm has a market cap of $386.18 million, a PE ratio of -2.35 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.23 and a quick ratio of 3.23. Verastem, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2.10 and a fifty-two week high of $13.52.

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

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.