Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Price Target to $460.00

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) had its price target trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $555.00 to $460.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the pharmaceutical company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $500.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $490.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $426.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $490.38.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ VRTX opened at $409.56 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $105.47 billion, a PE ratio of -205.81 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $448.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $468.03. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $377.85 and a fifty-two week high of $519.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 4.52% and a negative return on equity of 1.91%. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post -1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Vertex Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,816,249 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,495,501,000 after purchasing an additional 90,173 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,550,386 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,581,373,000 after buying an additional 851,054 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,798,870 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,231,858,000 after buying an additional 704,421 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,905,705 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,351,385,000 after acquiring an additional 159,693 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,516,831 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,170,506,000 after acquiring an additional 100,114 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.