Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) CAO Kristen Ambrose Sells 1,207 Shares

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) CAO Kristen Ambrose sold 1,207 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.55, for a total transaction of $347,072.85. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,099,977.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

VRTX stock opened at $290.29 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $298.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $299.27. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1-year low of $228.50 and a 1-year high of $325.19. The firm has a market cap of $74.63 billion, a PE ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 4.83, a quick ratio of 4.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 7th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.11 by $0.65. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 27.78% and a net margin of 37.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.18 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 12.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 25,243,060 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,308,875,000 after buying an additional 105,908 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,132,336 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,118,657,000 after buying an additional 293,861 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 27.1% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,753,011 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,720,832,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571,298 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,294,791 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,559,834,000 after purchasing an additional 30,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,382,719 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,551,946,000 after purchasing an additional 111,052 shares during the period. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VRTX shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, December 19th. SVB Leerink cut their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $374.00 to $365.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 1st. Finally, SVB Securities cut their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $374.00 to $365.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.10.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a global biotechnology company, which 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.

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