Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Stock Bought by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,380 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,121 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $18,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Summit Global Investments purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $3,568,000. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,823,000. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,495,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,187,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $321,480,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $547.03 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $138.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $523.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $483.19. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $412.27 and a twelve month high of $568.67.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on VRTX shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $665.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $654.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $596.44.

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.