Welch & Forbes LLC Buys 3,102 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Welch & Forbes LLC lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 220,346 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares during the quarter. Vertex Pharmaceuticals makes up approximately 1.0% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Welch & Forbes LLC owned about 0.09% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $86,296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,973,777 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,673,126,000 after buying an additional 482,616 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.9% during the second 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 during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position 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 worth $1,949,228,000 after purchasing an additional 424,808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,813,378 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,697,716,000 after purchasing an additional 65,047 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 42,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,088,752.07. This trade represents a 9.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $4,394,252.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 37,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,391,225. This trade represents a 20.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 165,105 shares of company stock worth $73,858,523 in the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $469.90 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $453.77 and its 200 day moving average is $427.54. The firm has a market cap of $119.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14 and a beta of 0.31. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $362.50 and a 52-week 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.58 by $0.22. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 31.35%.The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on VRTX. Wolfe Research upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $548.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $535.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $475.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $517.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $522.68.

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.