Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Shares Sold by AGF Management Ltd.

AGF Management Ltd. decreased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,735 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 9,150 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $3,029,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $1,593,974,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $2,738,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,063 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 214.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 763,703 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $299,097,000 after buying an additional 520,949 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the second 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 during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,378,320 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,949,228,000 after buying an additional 424,808 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $460.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $564.00 price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $517.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $414.00 to $606.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded 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 research report on Tuesday, January 6th. 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, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $522.68.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ VRTX opened at $470.52 on Thursday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $362.50 and a twelve month high of $519.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $456.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $427.39. The company has a market capitalization of $119.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.18 and a beta of 0.30.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 31.35% and a return on equity of 23.51%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In related 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 value of $28,650,425.20. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 24,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,792,479.20. This trade represents a 72.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles F. Wagner, Jr. sold 9,532 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $461.00, for a total transaction of $4,394,252.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,391,225. This trade represents a 20.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 165,105 shares of company stock valued at $73,858,523 in the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

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.