Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Shares Sold by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,807 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,236 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $6,260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Trust Co of the South bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $378,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,714 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 56,054 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $21,953,000 after acquiring an additional 11,570 shares during the period. Finally, Mirabella Financial Services LLP grew its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 133.9% in the third quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 5,377 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,102,000 after purchasing an additional 3,078 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VRTX. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $445.00 to $466.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $590.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $580.00 target price on the stock. Evercore boosted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $475.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of 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. Twenty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $554.30.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 4,500 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.99, for a total value of $2,137,455.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 42,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 link. Also, EVP Amit Sachdev sold 58,613 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.83, for a total transaction of $27,479,532.79. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 58,934 shares in the company, valued at $27,630,027.22. The trade was a 49.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 93,485 shares of company stock worth $43,967,586. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $454.04 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $469.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $440.41. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $362.50 and a fifty-two week high of $513.97. The firm has a market cap of $115.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.31.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The pharmaceutical company reported $5.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.05 by ($0.02). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 24.30% and a net margin of 32.94%.The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.98 earnings per share. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share 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.