Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Lowers Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 13.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 40,573 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 6,213 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $18,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 23.7% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 3,014 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 49.6% in the 1st quarter. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH now owns 8,293 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,703,000 after buying an additional 2,749 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 13.4% in the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,570 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $701,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 25.7% during the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 6,332 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,827,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294 shares during the period. Finally, Hartford Funds Management Co LLC grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% during the first quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 3,101 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,386,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. 90.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $542.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $437.00 to $436.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $607.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $612.00 to $616.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Maxim Group upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.61.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $477.08 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.29. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $362.50 and a fifty-two week high of $533.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $460.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $458.65.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.86% and a net margin of 35.51%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.06 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 17.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 596 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $482.50, for a total value of $287,570.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 15,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,400,102.50. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Duncan Mckechnie sold 1,541 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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. Insiders sold 18,874 shares of company stock worth $8,707,966 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

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.