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

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their hold rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports.

VRTX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $490.00 to $494.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $437.00 to $451.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $500.00 to $550.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $499.77.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $397.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $102.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -199.63 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $377.85 and a twelve month high of $519.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $470.41 and its 200 day moving average is $475.30.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.77. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.52% and a negative return on equity of 1.91%. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals will post -1.83 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 410,359 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $190,850,000 after acquiring an additional 21,649 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 3,279 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,525,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $7,912,000. American Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $680,000. Finally, Tri Ri Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $8,726,000. 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.