Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

VRTX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Guggenheim raised their price target on 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 objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $456.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $457.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $430.86.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $401.08 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $320.01 and a fifty-two week high of $448.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 3.78 and a current ratio of 3.99. The stock has a market cap of $103.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $409.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $399.73.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.85 by $0.35. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 36.68% and a return on equity of 21.91%. The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 14.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 4,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total transaction of $1,804,930.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,819,732.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 4,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total transaction of $1,804,930.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,819,732.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $420.79, for a total value of $201,979.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 59,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,174,603.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,381 shares of company stock worth $5,203,249 in the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 41,800.0% during the 1st quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 419 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,874 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,764 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 57.0% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 937 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $392,000 after buying an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,284 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,209,000 after buying an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.