UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Buys 12,736 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 140.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,785 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,736 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $11,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Community Financial Services Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 103.7% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 55 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pingora Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at $32,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $558.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $595.00 to $619.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $596.44.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of VRTX opened at $547.03 on Thursday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $412.27 and a 52 week high of $568.67. The firm has a market cap of $138.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $523.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $483.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.34.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.82 by ($0.06). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 21.98% and a net margin of 30.70%. The company had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.10 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.