Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) in a research note issued on Thursday. The firm set a “strong-buy” rating on the pharmaceutical company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $280.00 to $325.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Truist Financial increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $341.00 to $456.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. SVB Leerink dropped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $374.00 to $365.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. SVB Securities dropped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $374.00 to $365.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $340.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $352.59.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

VRTX stock opened at $341.20 on Thursday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $243.17 and a twelve month high of $354.46. The company has a quick ratio of 4.11, a current ratio of 4.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $323.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $310.21. The firm has a market cap of $87.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.17, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.49.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.54. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 25.06% and a net margin of 35.40%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 12.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bastiano Sanna sold 2,746 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.59, for a total value of $825,420.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 49,268 shares in the company, valued at $14,809,468.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Kristen Ambrose sold 1,207 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $287.55, for a total transaction of $347,072.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,099,977.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bastiano Sanna sold 2,746 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.59, for a total value of $825,420.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 49,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,809,468.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,898 shares of company stock valued at $21,542,553. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 25,243,060 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,308,875,000 after acquiring an additional 105,908 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,132,336 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,118,657,000 after acquiring an additional 293,861 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,294,791 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,559,834,000 after acquiring an additional 30,742 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.1% in the first 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 period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 40.3% in the first 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 period. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a global biotechnology company, which engages in the business of discovering, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing small molecule drugs for patients with serious diseases. The firm focuses on development and commercializing therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, infectious diseases including viral infections such as influenza and bacterial infections, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and neurological disorders including pain and multiple sclerosis.