Short Interest in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Rises By 27.1%

Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) saw a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 806,400 shares, a growth of 27.1% from the March 31st total of 634,500 shares. Currently, 3.9% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 144,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Verastem

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VSTM. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in Verastem by 116.7% in the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,300,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,569,000 after acquiring an additional 700,000 shares during the last quarter. Sectoral Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verastem during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,653,000. Citigroup Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem in the 3rd quarter valued at $245,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Verastem by 27.7% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 22,758 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $185,000 after buying an additional 4,939 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cannon Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verastem in the first quarter worth about $131,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VSTM. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Verastem in a research report on Friday, March 15th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $17.50 target price on shares of Verastem in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Verastem from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verastem presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.79.

Verastem Stock Up 2.7 %

Verastem stock opened at $9.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 5.45 and a current ratio of 5.45. Verastem has a 12 month low of $4.68 and a 12 month high of $15.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.64.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.82) by ($0.20). On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verastem will post -4.31 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.