Truist Financial Reiterates "$490.00" Price Target for Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Key Points

• Truist Financial has lowered its price target for Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $520.00 to $490.00, while maintaining a "buy" rating, indicating a potential upside of 24.47% from the current price.
• Other analysts, including HC Wainwright and Leerink Partners, have also adjusted their price targets for Vertex, with several rating changes this week.
• Vertex Pharmaceuticals reported a quarterly earnings of $4.52 EPS, exceeding expectations and reflecting a 11.3% increase in year-over-year revenue to $2.94 billion.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report) has been assigned a $490.00 target price by stock analysts at Truist Financial in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the pharmaceutical company's stock. Truist Financial's price target indicates a potential upside of 30.45% from the company's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Leerink Partners reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $503.00 price objective (down previously from $550.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets set a $530.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $442.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group set a $553.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $497.10.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

VRTX stock traded down $10.02 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $375.63. The company had a trading volume of 3,980,060 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,626,332. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $453.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $466.25. The company has a market cap of $96.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a current ratio of 2.52. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $372.35 and a twelve month high of $519.88.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.28. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 23.91%. The business had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($12.83) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Bruce I. Sachs bought 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $389.68 per share, for a total transaction of $1,948,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 45,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,535,600. This trade represents a 12.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,783,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,731,000. Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $329,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 581,181 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $234,042,000 after purchasing an additional 23,964 shares during the period. Finally, Shelton Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 54,631 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $22,000,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the period. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.