Cornerstone Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 16.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 825 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 159 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2,699.4% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 19,246,380 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,104,591,000 after buying an additional 18,558,874 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,474,890 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,801,530,000 after buying an additional 560,796 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.0% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,013,178 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,313,647,000 after buying an additional 239,017 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 8,754,618 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $957,317,000 after buying an additional 105,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 8.9% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,339,821 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $255,483,000 after buying an additional 191,154 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.89% of the company’s stock.
Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) opened at 151.37 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 145.41 and a beta of 1.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $145.63 and its 200 day moving average is $117.13. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $71.46 and a 12-month high of $167.85.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $544.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $489.95 million. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 4.64% and a net margin of 12.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post $1.60 EPS for the current fiscal year.
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Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Sunday, April 30th. UBS AG reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 target price (up from $132.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, May 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $130.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $171.00 target price (up from $136.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Cowen and Company reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $162.88.
In other news, SVP Paul M. Silva sold 1,289 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.88, for a total value of $197,062.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,740,068.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 70,969 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.06, for a total value of $9,088,290.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 145,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,576,511.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 751,042 shares of company stock valued at $113,078,257. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.
About Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is engaged in discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing medicines for serious diseases. The Company is focused on developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) and advancing its research and development programs in other indications.
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