Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) Receives $563.50 Average PT from Analysts

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $563.50.

VRTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $436.00 to $442.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $543.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $560.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $541.69 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $502.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $468.67. The firm has a market cap of $137.48 billion, a PE ratio of 31.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.30. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $374.17 and a 12-month high of $555.69.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.74 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 35.00% and a return on equity of 23.09%. The company’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 1,500 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.99, for a total value of $787,485.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 45,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,793,071.79. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Duncan Mckechnie sold 1,541 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.00, for a total transaction of $799,779.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 11,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,709,519. This trade represents a 12.29% 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 three months, insiders have sold 10,464 shares of company stock worth $4,959,397. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 50,904.3% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 190,491,484 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $94,622,835,000 after acquiring an additional 190,118,003 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,975,849,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,440,149,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,509,651,000. Finally, AIGH Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,725,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.