Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Position Boosted by Country Trust Bank

Country Trust Bank increased its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 100,593 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 2,061 shares during the quarter. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $45,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 77.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,689,059 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,836,550,000 after buying an additional 2,053,156 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings 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 worth $299,097,000 after buying an additional 520,949 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 16,553,281 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,482,978,000 after buying an additional 444,990 shares in the last quarter. 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. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1,373.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 361,085 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $140,119,000 after buying an additional 336,573 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $548.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Bank of America increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $571.00 to $598.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Evercore increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $475.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $535.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $456.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $554.30.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Joy Liu sold 978 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $449.17, for a total transaction of $439,288.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 21,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,806,728.61. This represents a 4.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Duncan Mckechnie sold 4,910 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.65, for a total value of $2,394,361.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 17,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,562,646.35. This trade represents a 21.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 84,931 shares of company stock worth $40,012,622. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRTX opened at $434.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $466.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $444.71. The firm has a market cap of $110.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.33, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.36. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $362.50 and a 1 year high of $510.77.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The pharmaceutical company reported $5.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by ($0.02). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 32.94% and a return on equity of 24.30%. The company had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.98 EPS. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.