Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Hold” Rating for Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim raised their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $371.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $440.00 price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Maxim Group cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $432.00.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of VRTX opened at $402.50 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.99, a quick ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $408.44 and a 200 day moving average of $400.41. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $320.01 and a 12 month high of $448.40. The company has a market capitalization of $104.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.39.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.61 by $1.15. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 21.91% and a net margin of 36.68%. The business had revenue of $2.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post 14.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 4,295 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total transaction of $1,804,930.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,819,732.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 4,295 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total transaction of $1,804,930.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 75,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,819,732.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Kristen Ambrose sold 1,374 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total value of $577,409.76. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,066,242.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,381 shares of company stock valued at $5,203,249. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VRTX. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,817 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $980,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,064 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 8.2% in the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 941 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 19.8% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 2,050 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $713,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 10,334 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,594,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. 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.