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

Welch & Forbes LLC grew its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 1.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 220,346 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying 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 biggest position. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $86,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at $1,593,974,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,151,505 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,738,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,063 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 214.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 763,703 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $299,097,000 after purchasing an additional 520,949 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $10,673,126,000 after buying an additional 482,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 4,500 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.99, for a total transaction of $2,137,455.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 42,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,088,752.07. The trade was a 9.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 63,781 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $449.20, for a total transaction of $28,650,425.20. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 24,026 shares in the company, valued at $10,792,479.20. This represents a 72.64% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 165,105 shares of company stock worth $73,858,523 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $414.00 to $606.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $460.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $564.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $535.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $455.00 to $445.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $522.68.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $469.90 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $453.77 and its 200 day moving average is $427.54. The company has a market cap of $119.22 billion, a PE ratio of 33.14 and a beta of 0.31. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $362.50 and a 1 year high of $519.68.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 31.35%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.38 EPS. Analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals 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.