Erasca (NASDAQ:ERAS) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Erasca, Inc. (NASDAQ:ERAS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $4.06 and last traded at $4.2450, with a volume of 335979 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $3.63.

Key Stories Impacting Erasca

Here are the key news stories impacting Erasca this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler initiated coverage of Erasca with an “overweight” rating — a fresh buy-side analyst view that can attract investor interest and buying pressure. Piper Sandler initiates coverage of Erasca (ERAS) with overweight recommendation
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple LULD (Limit Up/Limit Down) trading halts on Jan 7 and Jan 8 indicate elevated intraday volatility and rapid price moves; halts are market-protection events that can amplify volume and short-term swings but don’t by themselves change fundamentals.
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector noise: a takeover rumor involving Revolution Medicines/AbbVie lifted biotech risk appetite today and likely spilled over into peer names, including Erasca, helping lift the stock. Revolution Medicines jumps on report AbbVie nears takeover
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: General Counsel Ebun Garner sold 120,000 shares at an average $5.59 (disclosed in an SEC filing), cutting her direct ownership by ~82.7% — a sizable insider sale that can weigh on investor confidence. SEC ownership filing

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ERAS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Erasca in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $6.00 target price on shares of Erasca in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Erasca from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $4.00 target price on Erasca in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Erasca from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4.44.

Erasca Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of -12.91 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $3.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.25.

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). Analysts forecast that Erasca, Inc. will post -0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Erasca

In other Erasca news, General Counsel Ebun Garner sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.59, for a total transaction of $670,800.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 25,076 shares in the company, valued at $140,174.84. This represents a 82.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 14.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Erasca

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Erasca by 594.8% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 396,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 339,177 shares during the period. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Erasca by 178.0% during the second quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 120,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 77,135 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in Erasca by 130.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 36,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 20,558 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC acquired a new position in Erasca during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $87,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Erasca in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 67.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.