Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX – Free Report) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $355.25.
A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on VRTX shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $375.00 to $379.00 in a research report on Monday, June 26th. Argus increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $340.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $315.00 to $323.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 8th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $350.00 to $410.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $339.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.1 %
Shares of VRTX stock opened at $351.91 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $340.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $315.98. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $271.61 and a 52-week high of $354.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.64 billion, a PE ratio of 28.02, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a current ratio of 4.28.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX – Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 25.06% and a net margin of 35.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.16 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 13.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Activity
In other news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 82 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $27,045.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 56,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,653,299.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 82 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $27,045.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,653,299.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bastiano Sanna sold 522 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.81, for a total transaction of $164,852.82. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,931,496.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 55,608 shares of company stock worth $18,718,544. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $707,950,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 40.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,590,190 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,076,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,523 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 410.9% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,451,874 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $92,731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167,674 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,517,548 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,368,554,000 after purchasing an additional 689,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 232.3% in the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 933,179 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $262,961,000 after purchasing an additional 652,321 shares during the last quarter. 91.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). It markets TRIKAFTA/KAFTRIO and SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI for people with CF with at least one F508del mutation for 6 years of age or older; ORKAMBI for CF homozygous F508del mutation for CF patients 2 year or older; and KALYDECO for the treatment of patients with 4 months or older who have CF with a mutation that is responsive to ivacaftor, and R117H mutation or one of certain gating mutations.
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