Analysts expect Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) to report $486.11 million in sales for the current quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Ten analysts have provided estimates for Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ earnings, with the highest sales estimate coming in at $500.10 million and the lowest estimate coming in at $457.09 million. Vertex Pharmaceuticals posted sales of $431.61 million in the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year-over-year growth rate of 12.6%. The company is expected to report its next quarterly earnings results after the market closes on Wednesday, July 26th.
On average, analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will report full year sales of $486.11 million for the current year, with estimates ranging from $2.00 billion to $2.21 billion. For the next financial year, analysts anticipate that the company will report sales of $2.57 billion per share, with estimates ranging from $2.40 billion to $2.85 billion. Zacks’ sales averages are a mean average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that follow Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.09. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 8.64% and a return on equity of 3.00%. The business had revenue of $714.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $692.64 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.09 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 79.5% on a year-over-year basis.
Several research firms have commented on VRTX. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $100.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Sunday, April 30th. UBS Group AG reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price objective (up from $132.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, May 19th. Vetr raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $156.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, March 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $125.39.
In other news, CEO Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 157,200 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.50, for a total value of $18,785,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 395,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,220,664. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Jeffrey Chodakewitz sold 8,979 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.05, for a total value of $1,086,907.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 131,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,916,864.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 404,097 shares of company stock valued at $50,604,479 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRTX. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2,699.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 19,246,380 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,104,591,000 after buying an additional 18,558,874 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,474,890 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,801,530,000 after buying an additional 560,796 shares in the last quarter. MARSHALL WACE ASIA Ltd bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $46,278,000. Marshall Wace North America L.P. bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $46,278,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $38,915,000. 94.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) traded up 2.28% during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $132.16. 3,311,555 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $128.18 and a 200 day moving average of $106.43. The company has a market cap of $32.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 184.32 and a beta of 1.73. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $71.46 and a 12-month high of $137.26.
About Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is engaged in discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing medicines for serious diseases. The Company is focused on developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) and advancing its research and development programs in other indications.
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