Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ (VRTX) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $462.00 price target on the pharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on VRTX. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $498.00 to $466.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $325.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $390.00 to $438.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $432.18.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $410.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 3.99 and a quick ratio of 3.78. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $320.01 and a 1 year high of $448.40. The firm has a market cap of $106.03 billion, a PE ratio of 29.53, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $408.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $400.75.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.66 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $2.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 36.68% and a return on equity of 21.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.67 EPS. Analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 14.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 4,295 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total value of $1,804,930.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 75,718 shares in the company, valued at $31,819,732.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Kristen Ambrose sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total transaction of $577,409.76. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,066,242.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 4,295 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total transaction of $1,804,930.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,819,732.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,381 shares of company stock valued at $5,203,249. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,282,180 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,066,396,000 after buying an additional 298,824 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,805,770 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,872,586,000 after acquiring an additional 3,824,103 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,782,374 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,999,080,000 after acquiring an additional 837,461 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,567,664 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,451,647,000 after purchasing an additional 195,080 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $1,237,877,000. 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.