Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Price Target to $460.00

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $555.00 to $460.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the pharmaceutical company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 11.62% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on VRTX. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $500.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $361.00 to $408.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.38.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.9 %

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $412.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $106.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -207.09 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $450.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $468.49. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $377.85 and a twelve month high of $519.88.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 1.91% and a negative net margin of 4.52%. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post -1.83 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,816,249 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,495,501,000 after buying an additional 90,173 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,550,386 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,581,373,000 after purchasing an additional 851,054 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,798,870 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,231,858,000 after buying an additional 704,421 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,905,705 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,351,385,000 after buying an additional 159,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,516,831 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,170,506,000 after buying an additional 100,114 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

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.