JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reiterates Overweight Rating for Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $560.00 price target on the pharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $515.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 8.83% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $653.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $543.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.83.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of VRTX opened at $514.56 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $374.17 and a one year high of $560.25. The stock has a market cap of $130.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.95, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $511.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $472.86.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.74 by ($0.01). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 35.00% and a return on equity of 23.09%. The business had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Duncan McKechnie sold 1,541 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.00, for a total value of $799,779.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,001 shares in the company, valued at $5,709,519. This represents a 12.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.99, for a total transaction of $787,485.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 45,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,793,071.79. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 8,719 shares of company stock valued at $4,174,147 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 50,904.3% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 190,491,484 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $94,622,835,000 after buying an additional 190,118,003 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $11,975,849,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,440,149,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,509,651,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $928,893,000. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a global biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing medicines for serious diseases. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company combines research in human genetics with drug discovery and development.

Vertex is best known for its cystic fibrosis portfolio, which includes CFTR modulator therapies such as Kalydeco, Orkambi, Symdeko and the combination marketed as Trikafta in the United States and Kaftrio in other markets.