Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Downgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $457.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $456.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a sell rating and set a $371.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, April 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $397.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $429.45.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.4 %

VRTX opened at $399.92 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $316.43 and a fifty-two week high of $448.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 3.99 and a quick ratio of 3.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $413.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $398.05. The company has a market capitalization of $103.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.35.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by $0.35. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 36.68% and a return on equity of 21.91%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 14.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.70, for a total transaction of $150,697.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,755,762.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 4,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,819,732.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.70, for a total value of $150,697.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,755,762.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,381 shares of company stock worth $5,203,249 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,282,180 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,066,396,000 after purchasing an additional 298,824 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,805,770 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,872,586,000 after purchasing an additional 3,824,103 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,944,913 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,605,146,000 after acquiring an additional 147,248 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,451,647,000 after acquiring an additional 195,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,237,877,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.