Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-five analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty-one have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $555.9130.

Several research analysts have commented on VRTX shares. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $571.00 to $598.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $541.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 28th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $591.00 to $641.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of VRTX opened at $528.04 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $362.50 and a twelve month high of $529.14. The stock has a market cap of $134.02 billion, a PE ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.29. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $449.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $456.46.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 35.51% and a return on equity of 23.86%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.06 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 17.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Joy Liu sold 1,104 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.02, for a total transaction of $469,222.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,729 shares in the company, valued at $8,810,239.58. The trade was a 5.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 318 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.73, for a total transaction of $134,746.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,086,446.52. This represents a 6.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,833 shares of company stock worth $7,120,702. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,316,344 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,850,544,000 after acquiring an additional 763,063 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,689,539 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,299,569,000 after purchasing an additional 83,539 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,733,596 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,146,041,000 after purchasing an additional 44,537 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,522,586 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,771,226,000 after purchasing an additional 144,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 49.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,356,766 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,521,851,000 after buying an additional 1,109,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc is a Boston-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for serious diseases. Founded in 1989, Vertex built its reputation on research-driven drug development and is best known for its work in cystic fibrosis (CF), where its portfolio of small-molecule CFTR modulators transformed standards of care for many people with the disease. The company operates research and development, manufacturing and commercial organizations and serves patients and healthcare systems in multiple international markets.

Vertex’s marketed products center on CFTR modulators that target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis rather than just treating symptoms.