NBW Capital LLC Acquires 8,145 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

NBW Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 72.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,432 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 8,145 shares during the period. Vertex Pharmaceuticals comprises 1.7% of NBW Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. NBW Capital LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $7,907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,983,356 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,644,492,000 after purchasing an additional 87,397 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.5% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,409,257 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,700,938,000 after buying an additional 26,538 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,870,101 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $998,050,000 after acquiring an additional 89,217 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,813,563 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $978,388,000 after acquiring an additional 131,539 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $707,950,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VRTX shares. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $332.00 to $379.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $397.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $390.00 to $438.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $429.45.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ VRTX traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $393.60. The stock had a trading volume of 415,717 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,237,748. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $316.43 and a twelve month high of $448.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 3.99 and a quick ratio of 3.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $414.76 and its 200 day moving average is $396.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.30, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.35.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 36.68% and a return on equity of 21.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 55,804 shares in the company, valued at $23,755,762.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $150,697.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,755,762.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amit Sachdev sold 3,222 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total transaction of $1,354,013.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,250,727.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,381 shares of company stock valued at $5,203,249 in the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.