Meeder Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 447.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,424 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,799 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,316,344 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,850,544,000 after purchasing an additional 763,063 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,689,539 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,299,569,000 after buying an additional 83,539 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,733,596 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,146,041,000 after buying an additional 44,537 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,356,766 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,521,851,000 after buying an additional 1,109,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,440,149,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

VRTX opened at $480.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $463.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $459.19. The firm has a market cap of $121.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.50, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.29. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $362.50 and a 1 year high of $533.67.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.06 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 17.01 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on VRTX. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $612.00 to $616.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $577.00 to $572.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $542.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals 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 owned 20,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,810,239.58. This trade represents a 5.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,709,519. This trade represents a 12.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 18,874 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,966 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.