Federated Hermes Inc. Cuts Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Federated Hermes Inc. decreased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 186,569 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 7,390 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.07% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $73,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Costello Asset Management INC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% in the second quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 689 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,280 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $570,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. now owns 786 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,635 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $728,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 323 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTX has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target 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. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $535.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $548.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $564.00 price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $522.68.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $477.91 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.70 and a beta of 0.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $451.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $427.22. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $362.50 and a 1 year high of $519.68.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.58 by $0.22. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 63,781 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $449.20, for a total transaction of $28,650,425.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 24,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,792,479.20. The trade was a 72.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.99, for a total value of $2,137,455.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,088,752.07. This represents a 9.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 165,105 shares of company stock worth $73,858,523 in the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company 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.