Rosalind Advisors Inc. Buys New Position in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM)

Rosalind Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 900,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,653,000. Verastem accounts for about 2.3% of Rosalind Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Walleye Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Verastem by 493.7% in the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 216,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $646,000 after purchasing an additional 179,725 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verastem by 67.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 890,599 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,663,000 after purchasing an additional 359,060 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Verastem by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 37,629 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 10,352 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Verastem by 546.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 55,708 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 47,094 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem in the 3rd quarter valued at about $112,000. 88.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verastem

In related news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total value of $44,896.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 347,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,821,324.44. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 9,988 shares of company stock valued at $53,608 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on VSTM. Mizuho increased their price objective on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Verastem in a research report on Friday, January 24th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 price objective on shares of Verastem in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, B. Riley increased their price objective on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.38.

Verastem Stock Performance

Shares of VSTM stock opened at $6.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $295.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.08 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.61. Verastem, Inc. has a 12-month low of $2.10 and a 12-month 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.

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