Groupe la Francaise Grows Stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Groupe la Francaise boosted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 25.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,989 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 1,625 shares during the quarter. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $3,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 19.9% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 410 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 65,744 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $31,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624 shares in the last quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $203,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.3% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 273 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $132,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VRTX. Guggenheim lowered 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 report on Wednesday, August 6th. 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. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $423.00 to $415.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $438.00 to $516.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $408.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.85.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 53,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $440.72, for a total value of $23,624,354.88. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 24,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,588,738.72. This represents a 69.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $463.13 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.66 and a beta of 0.32. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $362.50 and a fifty-two week high of $519.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $419.23 and a 200 day moving average of $425.20.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 31.35%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.38 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current year.

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.