90,958 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Purchased by Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.

Key Points

• Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings opened a position of 90,958 Vertex shares in the third quarter, valued at approximately $47.6 million.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: MarketBeat reports a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $596.44. Institutional investors own 90.96% of Vertex’s stock.
• Vertex reported quarterly revenue of $3.44 billion, above estimates and up 11.8% year over year, but earnings per share of $4.76 came in slightly below the $4.82 consensus.

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 90,958 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $47,554,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,568,000. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $13,823,000. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $4,495,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,871,459 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $5,896,910,000 after acquiring an additional 141,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $3,187,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, November 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $633.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $563.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $596.44.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRTX traded down $4.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $538.60. 755,937 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,580,871. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.89. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $412.27 and a 52-week high of $568.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.66, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.28. The company's 50 day moving average price is $522.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $483.84.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.82 by ($0.06). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 21.98% and a net margin of 30.70%. The company had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.80 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.10 earnings per share for the current year.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1989, it develops medicines for serious diseases, with a long-standing focus on cystic fibrosis (CF). Vertex's CF treatments include medicines that target the underlying protein defect, such as Trikafta/Kaftrio, Alyftrek, Kalydeco, Orkambi and Symdeko/Symkevi. The company also markets Journavx, a non-opioid medicine for acute pain, and partnered with CRISPR Therapeutics to develop Casgevy, a gene-editing treatment for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia.

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