Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays

Barclays downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $509.00 price target on the pharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $472.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $540.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and set a $438.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $485.91.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $465.89 on Monday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $340.83 and a 52-week high of $510.64. The stock has a market cap of $120.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.23 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 3.29 and a current ratio of 3.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $480.69 and a 200-day moving average of $440.58.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported ($12.83) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($12.54) by ($0.29). The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 2.36% and a negative net margin of 4.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.53 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post -1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, insider Reshma Kewalramani 15,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Charles F. Wagner, Jr. sold 3,250 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $454.79, for a total value of $1,478,067.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,915,503.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Reshma Kewalramani 15,202 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The disclosure for this trade can be found here. Insiders have sold 53,423 shares of company stock valued at $25,528,865 in the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,805,770 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,872,586,000 after purchasing an additional 3,824,103 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,237,877,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 61.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,743,882 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,401,000,000 after buying an additional 2,176,218 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,782,374 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,999,080,000 after buying an additional 837,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $277,317,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.