Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Price Target Lowered to $425.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) had its target price cut by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $431.00 to $425.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the pharmaceutical company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price points to a potential downside of 6.62% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on VRTX. Argus raised their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price objective (up from $508.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $540.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $486.95.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of VRTX stock traded up $1.58 on Friday, reaching $455.13. The company had a trading volume of 183,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,177,433. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a market cap of $117.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.55 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $477.55 and a 200-day moving average of $455.01. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $341.90 and a 12 month high of $510.64.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported ($12.83) earnings per share 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 2.45% and a negative net margin of 4.74%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.53 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post -2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CEO Reshma Kewalramani sold 15,202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $497.00, for a total transaction of $7,555,394.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,172 shares in the company, valued at $52,767,484. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Reshma Kewalramani sold 15,202 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $497.00, for a total value of $7,555,394.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,172 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,767,484. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 5,295 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.00, for a total value of $2,689,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,320,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,767 shares of company stock valued at $15,768,284. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at $27,000. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Founders Capital Management increased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 50.0% during the second quarter. Founders Capital Management now owns 75 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

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.