Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Cuts Stock Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky decreased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 8.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 36,725 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,598 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $16,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 277.8% in the fourth quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Joy Liu sold 1,104 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $8,810,239.58. This trade represents a 5.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Duncan Mckechnie sold 1,541 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.00, for a total transaction of $799,779.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,709,519. This trade represents a 12.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,874 shares of company stock worth $8,707,966. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VRTX. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $607.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $577.00 to $572.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $612.00 to $616.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 28th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $559.61.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

VRTX stock opened at $480.25 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $458.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $458.47. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $362.50 and a fifty-two week high of $533.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.48, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.29.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.06 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 17.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company 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.