Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Short Interest Update

Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,320,000 shares, an increase of 22.8% from the February 28th total of 5,960,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.5 days. Approximately 16.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on VSTM. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Verastem from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Verastem from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Verastem from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.88.

Verastem Price Performance

NASDAQ VSTM opened at $5.84 on Thursday. Verastem has a fifty-two week low of $2.10 and a fifty-two week high of $13.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $6.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.83. The firm has a market cap of $300.68 million, a P/E ratio of -1.83 and a beta of 0.60. 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 (NASDAQ:VSTM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.33) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.76) by ($0.57). On average, analysts anticipate that Verastem will post -3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.24, for a total value of $44,896.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 347,581 shares in the company, valued at $1,821,324.44. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,960 shares of company stock valued at $53,498. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verastem

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VSTM. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Verastem during the 4th quarter worth $20,400,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verastem by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 3,752,583 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $19,401,000 after acquiring an additional 19,250 shares during the period. AIGH Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verastem during the fourth quarter valued at about $13,778,000. BVF Inc. IL grew its position in shares of Verastem by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 2,100,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,859,000 after purchasing an additional 415,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verastem by 6.5% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

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.