Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Citigroup

Citigroup started coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) in a research report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $575.00 target price on the pharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $562.00 to $586.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $558.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $499.12.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 4.7 %

VRTX stock traded down $22.86 during trading on Thursday, hitting $461.10. The company had a trading volume of 888,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,171,861. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $341.90 and a one year high of $519.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business has a 50-day moving average of $476.44 and a 200-day moving average of $470.57. The stock has a market cap of $118.75 billion, a PE ratio of -235.63 and a beta of 0.39.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.77. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 1.91% and a negative net margin of 4.52%. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.67 EPS. Research analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post -1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 3,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $499.00, for a total value of $1,888,216.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 9,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,987,006. This trade represents a 27.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 646 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $323,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,217,500. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 6.8% in the third quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 990 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 53.1% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 5,109 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 23,585 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,516,831 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,170,506,000 after acquiring an additional 100,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

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.