Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 54,107 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,181,362 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 54,107 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.85% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $971,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $1,593,974,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% in the first 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 buying an additional 1,226,527 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,151,505 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,738,650,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089,063 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $10,673,126,000 after acquiring an additional 482,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.7% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,378,320 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,949,228,000 after acquiring an additional 424,808 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $517.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $460.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank began coverage on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $495.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $564.00 target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $498.42.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ VRTX opened at $452.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $114.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.88 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $426.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $425.75. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $362.50 and a 12-month high of $519.68.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.58 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 31.35% and a return on equity of 23.51%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Charles F. Wagner, Jr. sold 14,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.00, for a total transaction of $6,384,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 37,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,202,600. The trade was a 27.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 63,781 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $449.20, for a total value of $28,650,425.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 24,026 shares in the company, valued at $10,792,479.20. This represents a 72.64% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 151,073 shares of company stock valued at $67,326,816 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

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.