Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Equities researchers at Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “sector outperform” rating and a $495.00 price target on the pharmaceutical company’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price suggests a potential upside of 13.23% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on VRTX. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $439.00 to $438.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $517.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $455.00 to $445.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $458.00 to $456.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $491.95.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.6%

VRTX stock opened at $437.15 on Thursday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $362.50 and a 1-year high of $519.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $408.04 and its 200-day moving average is $427.84. The firm has a market cap of $110.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.25 and a beta of 0.36.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.58 by $0.22. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.91% and a net margin of 31.86%.The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.38 EPS. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 15.63 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisor OS LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 543 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% in the second quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 689 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.9% in the second quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,280 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. increased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.3% in the second quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. now owns 786 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,635 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.