Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Has $148,000 Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich cut its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 8.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 331,910 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 30,997 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned about 0.13% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,973,777 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,673,126,000 after purchasing an additional 482,616 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,151,505 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,738,650,000 after buying an additional 1,089,063 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,747 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,627,135,000 after acquiring an additional 166,987 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,953,512 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,916,742,000 after acquiring an additional 33,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,917,227 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,414,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226,527 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 53,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $440.72, for a total value of $23,624,354.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 24,026 shares in the company, valued at $10,588,738.72. This represents a 69.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTX has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $553.00 to $546.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $495.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $491.95.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $424.00 on Tuesday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $362.50 and a 12 month high of $519.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $412.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $424.96. The stock has a market cap of $107.58 billion, a PE ratio of 30.31 and a beta of 0.36.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.58 by $0.22. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 23.91%. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.38 EPS. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). It markets TRIKAFTA/KAFTRIO for people with CF with at least one F508del mutation for 2 years of age or older; SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI for people with CF for 6 years of age or older; ORKAMBI for CF patients 1 year or older; and KALYDECO for the treatment of patients with 1 year or older who have CF with ivacaftor.