Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas Buys New Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 17,013 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $7,912,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $662,000. Creative Planning grew its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 79,117 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $37,084,000 after purchasing an additional 3,998 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 289.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 77,393 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $35,994,000 after purchasing an additional 57,497 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 640.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,443 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $676,000 after buying an additional 1,248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $21,008,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on VRTX. UBS Group increased their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $562.00 to $586.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $361.00 to $408.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $473.00 to $476.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $480.00 to $486.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $506.20.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.1 %

VRTX traded down $0.39 on Friday, reaching $463.73. 1,097,080 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,185,713. 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 cap of $119.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -233.23 and a beta of 0.36. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $473.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $475.80. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $391.01 and a one year high of $519.88.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.77. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during 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%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals'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 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

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.