Vertex Pharmaceuticals' (VRTX) "Outperform" Rating Reaffirmed at William Blair

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reissued by research analysts at William Blair in a research note issued on Monday,RTT News reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on VRTX. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $575.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $460.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $490.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $426.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $490.38.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTX traded up $3.81 during trading on Monday, hitting $413.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,859,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,563,207. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $377.85 and a fifty-two week high of $519.88. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $448.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $467.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.47. The company has a market capitalization of $106.45 billion, a PE ratio of -207.72 and a beta of 0.40.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.77. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 1.91% and a negative net margin of 4.52%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.67 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post -1.83 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRTX. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $662,000. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,838 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $22,486,000 after purchasing an additional 3,260 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of 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 period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 289.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 77,393 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $35,994,000 after buying an additional 57,497 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 342,429 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $137,783,000 after acquiring an additional 55,739 shares during 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.

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