Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Shares Acquired by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,380 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,121 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $18,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,975,849,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,871,459 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,896,910,000 after purchasing an additional 141,320 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,247,658 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,613,209,000 after purchasing an additional 35,069 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,086,683 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,533,248,000 after purchasing an additional 29,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $1,509,651,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $547.03 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $523.04 and a 200-day moving average of $483.19. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $412.27 and a 52-week high of $568.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.20, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.28.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.82 by ($0.06). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 30.70% and a return on equity of 21.98%. The business had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.80 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.10 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $654.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $595.00 to $619.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $558.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $665.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $596.44.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1989, it develops medicines for serious diseases, with a long-standing focus on cystic fibrosis (CF). Vertex’s CF treatments include medicines that target the underlying protein defect, such as Trikafta/Kaftrio, Alyftrek, Kalydeco, Orkambi and Symdeko/Symkevi. The company also markets Journavx, a non-opioid medicine for acute pain, and partnered with CRISPR Therapeutics to develop Casgevy, a gene-editing treatment for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia.