Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 31,308 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,569,165 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 31,308 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.61% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $614,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,593,974,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,151,505 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,738,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,063 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 214.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 763,703 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $299,097,000 after purchasing an additional 520,949 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.7% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,378,320 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,949,228,000 after purchasing an additional 424,808 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTX has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $455.00 to $445.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $460.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $564.00 price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $456.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $522.68.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $477.91 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $451.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $427.22. The stock has a market cap of $121.26 billion, a PE ratio of 33.70 and a beta of 0.31. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $362.50 and a 12 month high of $519.68.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 31.35%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.38 EPS. Analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Charles F. Wagner, Jr. sold 9,532 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $461.00, for a total value of $4,394,252.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,391,225. The trade was a 20.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.99, for a total value of $2,137,455.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,293 shares in the company, valued at $20,088,752.07. The trade was a 9.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 165,105 shares of company stock valued at $73,858,523. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Profile

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc is a Boston-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for serious diseases. Founded in 1989, Vertex built its reputation on research-driven drug development and is best known for its work in cystic fibrosis (CF), where its portfolio of small-molecule CFTR modulators transformed standards of care for many people with the disease. The company operates research and development, manufacturing and commercial organizations and serves patients and healthcare systems in multiple international markets.

Vertex’s marketed products center on CFTR modulators that target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis rather than just treating symptoms.