Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) released its earnings results on Thursday. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.33) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by ($0.57), Zacks reports.

Verastem Stock Performance

Verastem stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $6.82. 472,957 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 907,561. Verastem has a fifty-two week low of $2.10 and a fifty-two week high of $13.52. The company has a current ratio of 3.23, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77. The firm has a market cap of $303.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.14 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $5.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.57.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VSTM. B. Riley boosted their price objective on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho upped their price target on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Verastem in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verastem

In other Verastem news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total transaction of $44,896.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 347,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,821,324.44. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,053 shares of company stock worth $53,890. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.