Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Earns “Buy” Rating from HC Wainwright

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

Several other research firms have also recently commented on VRTX. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a hold rating to a sell rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $332.00 to $379.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $456.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an outperform rating and a $515.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $432.18.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.0 %

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $418.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $407.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $400.88. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $320.01 and a twelve month high of $448.40. The company has a current ratio of 3.99, a quick ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.66 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $2.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 21.91% and a net margin of 36.68%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.67 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 14.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.70, for a total transaction of $150,697.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,804 shares in the company, valued at $23,755,762.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.70, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amit Sachdev sold 3,222 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 $1,354,013.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 74,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,250,727.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,381 shares of company stock worth $5,203,249. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,817 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% during the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,064 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 8.2% in the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 941 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 19.8% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 2,050 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 10,334 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,594,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.