Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Price Target Raised to $575.00 at Citigroup

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) had its price objective boosted by Citigroup from $550.00 to $575.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a buy rating on the pharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on VRTX. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $430.00 to $405.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $494.00 to $455.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $424.00 to $411.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $439.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $515.00 to $517.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.81.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.1%

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $408.85 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $104.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $400.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $443.73. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $362.50 and a 12-month high of $519.88.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.28. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 23.91%. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($12.83) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce I. Sachs purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $389.68 per share, for a total transaction of $1,948,400.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 45,000 shares in the company, valued at $17,535,600. The trade was a 12.50% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,973,777 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,673,126,000 after buying an additional 482,616 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,151,505 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,738,650,000 after buying an additional 1,089,063 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,747 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,627,135,000 after buying an additional 166,987 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.7% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,378,320 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,949,228,000 after buying an additional 424,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,813,378 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,697,716,000 after buying an additional 65,047 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). It markets TRIKAFTA/KAFTRIO for people with CF with at least one F508del mutation for 2 years of age or older; SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI for people with CF for 6 years of age or older; ORKAMBI for CF patients 1 year or older; and KALYDECO for the treatment of patients with 1 year or older who have CF with ivacaftor.