Short Interest in Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) Grows By 31.0%

Verastem, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSTM) saw a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,620,000 shares, an increase of 31.0% from the November 30th total of 2,000,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 983,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days. Approximately 6.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VSTM. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $13.00 price target on shares of Verastem in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Verastem in a research note on Friday, October 18th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Verastem in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Verastem from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on Verastem in a report on Monday, September 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $13.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VSTM. Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verastem during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,918,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Verastem in the 2nd quarter worth $1,192,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verastem by 67.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 890,599 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,663,000 after buying an additional 359,060 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC increased its stake in Verastem by 493.7% in the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 216,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 179,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Verastem during the second quarter valued at about $203,000. 88.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verastem Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VSTM opened at $3.64 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $4.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.30. The company has a quick ratio of 3.23, a current ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.01 million, a PE ratio of -1.14 and a beta of 0.22. Verastem has a twelve month low of $2.10 and a twelve month high of $14.22.

Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.60) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.71) by $0.11. Equities research analysts expect that Verastem will post -3.16 EPS for the current year.

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.