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

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

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $299,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 15,568 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,139,000 after buying an additional 1,941 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.0% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,943 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,584,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 140.7% during the third quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 21,785 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,389,000 after acquiring an additional 12,736 shares during the period. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 6.8% during the third quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 614 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore lifted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $558.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $595.00 to $619.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, September 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $594.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $596.44.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.8%

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $542.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 2.34. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $412.27 and a one year high of $568.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $522.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $483.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.28.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 30.70% and a return on equity of 21.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.10 earnings per share for the current 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.