FourThought Financial LLC Boosts Stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

FourThought Financial LLC boosted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) by 26.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,670 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 350 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $484,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Old North State Trust LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 165 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRTX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. SVB Securities reduced their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $374.00 to $365.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Argus increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 17th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $313.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.10.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Yuchun Lee sold 442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.17, for a total transaction of $137,979.14. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,875 shares in the company, valued at $585,318.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.99, for a total transaction of $82,222.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,765 shares in the company, valued at $19,663,077.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yuchun Lee sold 442 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.17, for a total value of $137,979.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $585,318.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,916 shares of company stock worth $12,466,970 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRTX opened at $300.64 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $233.01 and a 12-month high of $325.19. The company has a market cap of $77.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 4.83, a quick ratio of 4.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $299.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $298.92.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.65. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 27.78% and a net margin of 37.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.18 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 12.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Profile

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a global biotechnology company, which engages in the business of discovering, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing small molecule drugs for patients with serious diseases. The firm focuses on development and commercializing therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, infectious diseases including viral infections such as influenza and bacterial infections, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and neurological disorders including pain and multiple sclerosis.