Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) Stake Lifted by Motley Fool Asset Management LLC

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,484 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 1,840 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $5,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,374,948,000. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $731,283,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,916,084 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,382,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,214 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $435,899,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,772,789 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,519,302,000 after purchasing an additional 704,575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $459.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets set a $545.00 target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $503.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $433.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP David Altshuler sold 3,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $1,615,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,512 shares in the company, valued at $13,256,000. This represents a 10.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.06, for a total transaction of $111,034.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 67,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,805,286.70. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,315 shares of company stock worth $2,121,012. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $483.49 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $479.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $463.81. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $377.85 and a 52 week high of $519.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.69. The company has a market cap of $124.16 billion, a PE ratio of -219.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.99 by ($0.45). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.86% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. As a group, research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Profile

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.