Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) was downgraded by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, The Fly reports.
VRTX has been the subject of several other research reports. TheStreet raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 16th. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $260.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $203.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $218.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $256.67.
Shares of VRTX stock opened at $253.57 on Thursday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $176.36 and a 12 month high of $254.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 3.71 and a quick ratio of 3.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $219.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $200.35.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 26th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.07. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 30.92% and a return on equity of 32.33%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 11.22 EPS for the current year.
In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Margaret G. Mcglynn sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.79, for a total value of $1,208,950.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,054 shares of company stock valued at $1,219,058. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 73,502 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,820,000 after acquiring an additional 10,071 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 52,448 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,514,000 after acquiring an additional 1,945 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG now owns 19,463 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,530,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 7,422 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,153,787 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $635,897,000 after acquiring an additional 297,171 shares during the period. 89.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a global biotechnology company. It engages in the business of discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing small molecule drugs for patients with serious diseases. The firm focuses on development and commercializing therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, infectious diseases including viral infections such as influenza and bacterial infections, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and neurological disorders including pain and multiple sclerosis.