Arjuna Capital Has $1.39 Million Stock Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Arjuna Capital reduced its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 22.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,110 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 890 shares during the period. Arjuna Capital’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 450.0% during the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 55 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $29,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRTX shares. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $558.00 to $546.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Truist Financial set a $490.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $455.00 to $445.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Leerink Partners raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $458.00 to $456.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $491.95.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

VRTX stock opened at $425.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $107.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $416.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $424.97. 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 quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.91% and a net margin of 31.86%.Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.38 earnings per share. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 53,604 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $440.72, for a total transaction of $23,624,354.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 24,026 shares in the company, valued at $10,588,738.72. This trade represents a 69.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). It markets TRIKAFTA/KAFTRIO for people with CF with at least one F508del mutation for 2 years of age or older; SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI for people with CF for 6 years of age or older; ORKAMBI for CF patients 1 year or older; and KALYDECO for the treatment of patients with 1 year or older who have CF with ivacaftor.