HC Wainwright Reaffirms Hold Rating for Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX)

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in a report released on Wednesday. They currently have a $85.00 price objective on the pharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on VRTX. Vetr cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a sell rating to a strong sell rating and set a $102.58 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $130.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Investment Research cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Jefferies Group LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $126.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $139.83.

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) traded down 0.28% during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $159.25. The company had a trading volume of 3,593,434 shares. The company has a market capitalization of $39.66 billion, a PE ratio of 222.11 and a beta of 1.74. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $71.46 and a one year high of $167.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $129.31 and a 200 day moving average of $106.81.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.09. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 3.00% and a net margin of 8.64%. The business had revenue of $714.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $692.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 79.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post $1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other news, EVP David Altshuler sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $975,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 113,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,756,430. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 157,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.50, for a total transaction of $18,785,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 395,152 shares in the company, valued at $47,220,664. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 404,670 shares of company stock worth $50,678,883 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 225.3% in the first quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 950 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the period. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% in the first quarter. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America now owns 956 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the period. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 7.1% in the first quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co now owns 1,500 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $197,000. Finally, Sterling Global Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $200,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.08% of the company’s stock.

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.