2,671 Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Shares Purchased by VestGen Advisors LLC

Key Points

• VestGen Advisors more than doubled its Vertex Pharmaceuticals stake in the third quarter, purchasing 2,671 additional shares for a total of 4,870 shares valued at approximately $2.55 million.
• Institutional investors own 90.96% of Vertex’s outstanding shares, with major holders including BlackRock, State Street, Wellington Management, UBS Asset Management, and Bank of America.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $579.81 target price. Vertex recently reported $3.33 billion in quarterly revenue, up 12.5% year over year, though EPS slightly missed estimates.

VestGen Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX - Free Report) by 121.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,870 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,671 shares during the period. VestGen Advisors LLC's holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $11,975,849,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,871,459 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $5,896,910,000 after purchasing an additional 141,320 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,247,658 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,613,209,000 after purchasing an additional 35,069 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,086,683 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,533,248,000 after buying an additional 29,287 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,509,651,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VRTX shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $615.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $555.00 to $556.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, September 11th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $560.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $579.81.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.9%

VRTX stock opened at $540.00 on Friday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $522.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $478.98. The stock has a market cap of $137.05 billion, a PE ratio of 31.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.28. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $403.16 and a fifty-two week high of $560.25.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.74 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.23 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.09% and a net margin of 35.00%. The company's revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.52 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Profile

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a global biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing medicines for serious diseases. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company applies expertise in the science of human disease to discover therapies that address significant unmet medical needs.

Vertex is best known for its cystic fibrosis portfolio, which includes Kalydeco, Orkambi, Symdeko/Symkevi, and Trikafta/Kaftrio. These medicines target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis for patients with specific mutations in the CFTR gene.

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