Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Stock Acquired by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 340,079 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,089 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.13% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $177,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $11,975,849,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,509,651,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $928,893,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $830,842,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $784,391,000. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VRTX shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $560.00 to $565.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $617.00 to $626.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $596.44.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ VRTX opened at $542.62 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $412.27 and a 12 month high of $568.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.89. The company has a market capitalization of $137.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.28. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $522.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $483.52.

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