Virtu Financial LLC Purchases New Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,493 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $676,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Cambient Family Office LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $264,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 98,375 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,600,000 after acquiring an additional 17,788 shares during the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 174.4% in the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 6,541 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,966,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,152,672 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $975,935,000 after purchasing an additional 55,875 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Joy Liu sold 1,104 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.02, for a total value of $469,222.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,729 shares in the company, valued at $8,810,239.58. The trade was a 5.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 6,988 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total value of $3,144,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 26,088 shares in the company, valued at $11,739,600. This represents a 21.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,195 shares of company stock worth $6,801,006. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VRTX. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $437.00 to $436.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $571.00 to $598.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $612.00 to $616.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $541.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $555.91.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $466.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $118.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.30. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $362.50 and a 52 week high of $507.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $439.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $453.56.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.23. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 35.51% and a return on equity of 23.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.06 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 17.02 earnings per share for the current 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.