Erasca Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:ERAS)

Erasca, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 4,075 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 104% compared to the average daily volume of 2,001 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Erasca news, General Counsel Ebun Garner sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.59, for a total transaction of $670,800.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 25,076 shares in the company, valued at $140,174.84. The trade was a 82.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 14.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Erasca

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vivo Capital LLC grew its holdings in Erasca by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 9,273,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,216,000 after acquiring an additional 2,516,672 shares in the last quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Erasca by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 13,560,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,561,000 after purchasing an additional 1,652,835 shares during the period. VR Adviser LLC lifted its position in shares of Erasca by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. VR Adviser LLC now owns 17,857,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640,867 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Erasca by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,331,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,393,000 after purchasing an additional 814,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Affinity Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Erasca by 22.3% during the second quarter. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC now owns 4,085,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,189,000 after buying an additional 744,268 shares during the period. 67.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Erasca Stock Up 6.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:ERAS opened at $12.31 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $6.89 and its 200 day moving average is $3.76. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.36 and a beta of 1.21. Erasca has a 52-week low of $1.01 and a 52-week high of $12.57.

Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Erasca will post -0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on ERAS shares. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Erasca in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $16.00 price target on the stock. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Erasca from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 target price on Erasca in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Erasca in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 price objective on Erasca in a report on Monday, January 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.22.

Erasca Company Profile

Erasca, Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of precision medicines for patients with cancer. The company focuses on small molecule therapeutics that target critical signaling pathways involved in tumor growth and survival, with a primary emphasis on inhibitors of the MAPK pathway. Erasca’s approach is designed to deliver oral, targeted therapies that address both oncogene‐driven and immuno‐oncology indications, aiming to improve outcomes for patients with unmet medical needs.

Erasca’s pipeline comprises multiple development candidates, including small molecule inhibitors engineered to disrupt key nodes in cancer cell signaling.