Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Shares Newly Acquired by Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 90,958 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,554,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRTX. Summit Global Investments acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,568,000. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $13,823,000. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $4,495,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,871,459 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,896,910,000 after acquiring an additional 141,320 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $3,187,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of VRTX stock traded down $4.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $538.60. 755,937 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,580,871. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $522.37 and a 200 day moving average of $483.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $412.27 and a 52-week high of $568.67. The company has a market cap of $136.56 billion, a PE ratio of 34.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.28.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VRTX. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $633.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $617.00 to $626.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $436.00 to $442.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $596.44.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Profile

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.