Jefferies Financial Group Brokers Raise Earnings Estimates for Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) – Investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group increased their Q2 2022 earnings per share estimates for Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note issued on Sunday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group analyst M. Yee now anticipates that the pharmaceutical company will post earnings per share of $3.24 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $3.22. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ FY2022 earnings at $12.67 EPS and FY2023 earnings at $13.27 EPS.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 26th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.27. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 30.92% and a return on equity of 32.33%. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on VRTX. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $279.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $260.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 27th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, December 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $305.00 to $350.00 in a report on Monday, April 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.95.

VRTX stock opened at $282.99 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 4.46 and a quick ratio of 4.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $250.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.46. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $176.36 and a fifty-two week high of $292.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.31 billion, a PE ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.62.

In related news, Director Margaret G. Mcglynn sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.79, for a total value of $1,208,950.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bastiano Sanna sold 1,040 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.98, for a total transaction of $261,019.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,623 shares of company stock valued at $13,527,514 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 750.0% during the 4th quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 119 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Hudock Inc. lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 156.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 164 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, JJJ Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 101.5% during the 4th quarter. JJJ Advisors Inc. now owns 133 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 90.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile (Get Rating)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis. The company markets SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI, ORKAMBI, and KALYDECO to treat patients with cystic fibrosis who have specific mutations in their cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene; and TRIKAFTA for the treatment of patients with CF 6 years of age or older who have at least one F508del mutation.

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