Calamos Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Calamos Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,172 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 923 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $28,145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $707,950,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 232.3% during the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 933,179 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $262,961,000 after buying an additional 652,321 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 33.1% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,578,444 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $744,603,000 after buying an additional 640,899 shares during the period. Man Group plc increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 144.6% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 576,398 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $166,452,000 after buying an additional 340,716 shares during the period. Finally, BSN CAPITAL PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $81,378,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 354 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.70, for a total value of $150,697.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,755,762.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 2,656 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $419.51, for a total transaction of $1,114,218.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 27,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,596,934.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.70, for a total value of $150,697.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,755,762.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,381 shares of company stock valued at $5,203,249 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRTX traded up $2.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $395.84. The company had a trading volume of 170,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,230,487. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $316.43 and a twelve month high of $448.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.31 billion, a PE ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $414.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $396.74. The company has a current ratio of 3.99, a quick ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by $0.35. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 21.91% and a net margin of 36.68%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 14.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $390.00 to $438.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $429.45.

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.