Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.57 EPS

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

Verastem Stock Down 2.3 %

Verastem stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $6.82. 472,957 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 907,561. The company has a market cap of $303.54 million, a PE ratio of -2.14 and a beta of 0.60. Verastem has a fifty-two week low of $2.10 and a fifty-two week high of $13.52. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $5.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77, a current ratio of 3.23 and a quick ratio of 3.23.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VSTM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Verastem from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Verastem in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Verastem in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their target price on Verastem from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verastem has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verastem

In other news, CEO Dan Paterson sold 8,568 shares of Verastem stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,821,324.44. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 10,053 shares of company stock valued at $53,890 over the last 90 days. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.