Elefante Mark B Buys New Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Elefante Mark B bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,552 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $1,833,000. Vertex Pharmaceuticals accounts for approximately 1.7% of Elefante Mark B's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 410,359 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $190,850,000 after purchasing an additional 21,649 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 4,942 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,990,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 108.2% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 102 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 30,383 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $12,235,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 4,239 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,707,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $420.00 to $423.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $512.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the company from $408.00 to $424.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.04.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRTX traded up $14.38 on Monday, reaching $439.37. 2,095,065 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,393,949. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market cap of $112.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -199.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.51. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $377.85 and a 52 week high of $519.88. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $488.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $465.83.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.85 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 2.02% and a negative net margin of 4.86%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP David Altshuler sold 3,231 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $1,615,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,256,000. This represents a 10.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.06, for a total transaction of $111,034.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,805,286.70. The trade was a 0.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,315 shares of company stock valued at $2,121,012. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Profile

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.