Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) Receives $486.36 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-six brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $486.36.

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $545.00 price target on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $371.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 target price (up from $508.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $431.00 price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $462.88 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $119.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.04 and a beta of 0.40. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $341.85 and a 12-month high of $510.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $479.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $454.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported ($12.83) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($12.54) by ($0.29). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.74% and a negative return on equity of 2.45%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.53 earnings per share. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post -2.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 646 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $323,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,435 shares in the company, valued at $2,217,500. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Reshma Kewalramani sold 15,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $497.00, for a total value of $7,555,394.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,767,484. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 646 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $323,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,217,500. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,767 shares of company stock worth $15,768,284 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 25,567,184 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,687,339,000 after acquiring an additional 3,761,414 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,676,518 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,479,011,000 after purchasing an additional 394,338 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 61.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,743,882 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,401,000,000 after buying an additional 2,176,218 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,782,374 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,999,080,000 after buying an additional 837,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,584,315 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,080,296,000 after acquiring an additional 244,336 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.