Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Rating Reiterated by Needham & Company LLC

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on VRTX. Evercore ISI raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $438.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $424.00 to $421.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $498.00 to $466.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $460.30.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $492.26 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $340.20 and a twelve month high of $503.99. The company has a market cap of $127.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $473.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $436.76.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.66 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $2.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 39.46% and a return on equity of 23.08%. The business’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 15.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 2,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.46, for a total transaction of $1,113,688.80. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 25,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,474,779.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 2,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $488.46, for a total transaction of $1,113,688.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 25,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,474,779.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Reshma Kewalramani sold 15,202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $497.00, for a total transaction of $7,555,394.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,172 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,767,484. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,128 shares of company stock worth $22,839,005 in the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRTX. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 25,898 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,538,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,894 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $771,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Inscription Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $229,000. Finally, Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $205,000. 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.