Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey Buys 1,393 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey grew its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 3.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 39,035 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $17,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bailard Inc. raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 38,147 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $16,983,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,747 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,627,135,000 after buying an additional 166,987 shares during the period. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $1,434,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 11.2% during the second quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 132,665 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $59,062,000 after acquiring an additional 13,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, STF Management LP lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% during the second quarter. STF Management LP now owns 4,095 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,823,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $434.19 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $406.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $428.20. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $362.50 and a 1 year high of $519.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.04 and a beta of 0.36.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.38 earnings per share. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on VRTX. Barclays raised their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $408.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $558.00 to $546.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $489.10.

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.