Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated Forecasted to Post FY2024 Earnings of $15.32 Per Share (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) – Stock analysts at William Blair increased their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, April 17th. William Blair analyst M. Minter now anticipates that the pharmaceutical company will post earnings of $15.32 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $15.28. William Blair currently has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ current full-year earnings is $14.95 per share.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.85 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 21.91% and a net margin of 36.68%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.33 EPS.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on VRTX. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $332.00 to $379.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $371.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $429.45.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of VRTX opened at $393.48 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $414.17 and its 200 day moving average is $396.74. The company has a market capitalization of $101.70 billion, a PE ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.35. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $316.43 and a 12-month high of $448.40. The company has a current ratio of 3.99, a quick ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Institutional Trading of Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 65.3% in the third quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC now owns 2,645 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 6.5% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 432,937 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $150,550,000 after purchasing an additional 26,523 shares during the period. Telos Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,073 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,133,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 427,001 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $148,485,000 after purchasing an additional 5,514 shares during the period. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth approximately $816,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 2,656 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $419.51, for a total transaction of $1,114,218.56. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 27,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,596,934.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 4,295 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total value of $1,804,930.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 75,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,819,732.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 2,656 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $419.51, for a total value of $1,114,218.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 27,644 shares in the company, valued at $11,596,934.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,381 shares of company stock valued at $5,203,249 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.20% 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.