Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Holdings Lowered by Jennison Associates LLC

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,249,541 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 205,406 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,473,212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 118.8% during the third quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 70 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 50.9% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 86 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 89.7% in the 4th quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 74 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $426.23 on Thursday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $362.50 and a fifty-two week high of $509.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $454.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $449.08. The firm has a market cap of $108.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.36.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The pharmaceutical company reported $5.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.05 by ($0.02). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 24.30% and a net margin of 32.94%.The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.74 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $445.00 to $466.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $580.00 price objective on the stock. Maxim Group raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Truist Financial raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $555.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Duncan Mckechnie sold 4,910 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.65, for a total value of $2,394,361.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 17,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,562,646.35. This represents a 21.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amit Sachdev sold 58,613 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.83, for a total value of $27,479,532.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 58,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,630,027.22. The trade was a 49.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 80,431 shares of company stock worth $37,875,167. 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.