Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS) Trading 5.6% Higher – Should You Buy?

Erasca, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS)’s stock price shot up 5.6% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $3.60 and last traded at $3.5680. 1,019,403 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 1,487,652 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.38.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $6.00 price target on shares of Erasca in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Erasca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $2.00 target price (down from $4.00) on shares of Erasca in a report on Monday, August 18th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Erasca from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $1.00 price objective (down previously from $4.00) on shares of Erasca in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.13.

Erasca Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1.93.

Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.11). On average, analysts expect that Erasca, Inc. will post -0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Erasca

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Erasca by 123.1% in the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 123,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 68,140 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Erasca by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 163,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 27,282 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Erasca by 133.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 113,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 64,912 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Erasca in the 1st quarter worth $663,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Erasca by 82.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 850,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after purchasing an additional 384,475 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.78% of the company’s stock.

About Erasca

Erasca, Inc, a clinical-stage precision oncology company, focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing therapies for patients with RAS/MAPK pathway-driven cancers. The company’s lead product is naporafenib which is in phase 1b trial for patients with RAS Q16X solid tumors and plans to initiate a pivotal Phase 3 trial for patients with NRASm melanoma.