Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,000 Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,000 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $970,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aries Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $293,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $22,954,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 45.0% during the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,421 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $3,113,000 after buying an additional 1,994 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 25.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,002 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,425,000 after buying an additional 1,005 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 189.7% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 359,285 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $139,724,000 after buying an additional 235,265 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on VRTX. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Leerink Partnrs lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $464.00 to $460.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $511.71.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $3.46 on Friday, reaching $459.81. 975,143 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,420,833. The company has a quick ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $377.85 and a twelve month high of $519.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -117.30 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $448.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $462.07.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.23). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 3.36% and a negative net margin of 8.91%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.76 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.