Global Trust Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get a rating) by 1,558.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its latest filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The company held 3,052 shares of the pharmaceutical company after acquiring an additional 2,868 shares during the period. Global Trust Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $796,000 when it last filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also been buying and selling shares of the company recently. Moors & Cabot Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during Q3 for $29,000. Dupont Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 7,278 shares of the pharmaceutical company worth $1,598,000 after acquiring 831 additional shares during the period. Monetta Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Q4 valued at approximately $878,000. Regentatlantic Capital LLC increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Regentatlantic Capital LLC now owns 5,070 shares of the pharmaceutical company valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 31,203 shares of the pharmaceutical company valued at $6,852,000 after purchasing 2,373 additional shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds hold 89.84% of the company’s shares.
Several brokerages have recently published reports on VRTX. Maxim Group upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a price target of $325.00 on the stock in a Wednesday, June 1 report. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a price target of $250.00 on the stock in a Tuesday, May 3, report. Piper Sandler cut her price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $249.00 to $242.00 in a Friday, May 6 report. UBS Group raised its price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $258.00 to $325.00 in a Wednesday, April 13 report. Finally, Oppenheimer raised his price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $305.00 to $350.00 in a Monday, April 4 research report. Seven equity research analysts gave the stock a hold rating, nine issued a buy rating and one gave the company a strong buy rating. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.61.
Shares of VRTX opened at $292.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.79, a growth price-to-earnings ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.55. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $176.36 and a 52-week high of $293.17. The company has a quick ratio of 4.60, a current ratio of 4.75 and a leverage ratio of 0.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $264.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $247.31.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get a rating) last reported results on Thursday, May 5. The pharmaceutical company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $3.16 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.17 per ($0.01). The company posted revenue of $2.10 billion in the quarter, versus analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 30.84% and a return on equity of 32.24%. The company’s quarterly revenue increased 21.6% year over year. In the same quarter a year earlier, the company posted EPS of $2.54. On average, stock analysts expect Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated to post EPS of 12.47 for the current fiscal year.
Separately, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 15,789 shares in a trade on Wednesday, April 13. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.04, for a total value of $4,563,652.56. As a result of the transaction, the president now directly owns 74,160 shares of the company, valued at approximately $21,435,206.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, available at this link. Also, CFO Charles F. Wagner, Jr. sold 343 shares in a trade on Monday, May 2. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.83, for a total transaction of $88,778.69. Following completion of the transaction, the CFO now directly owns 42,730 shares of the company, valued at $11,059,805.90. Disclosure of this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,683 shares of the company worth $10,227,645 in the past ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the shares of the company.
About Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Get a rating)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, is engaged in the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. The company markets SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI, ORKAMBI and KALYDECO to treat patients with cystic fibrosis who have specific mutations in their cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene; and TRIKAFTA for the treatment of patients with cystic fibrosis aged 6 years or older who have at least one F508del mutation.
Recommended Stories
Want to see what other hedge funds hold VRTX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get a rating).
Get news and reviews for Vertex Pharmaceuticals Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of breaking news and analyst ratings for Vertex Pharmaceuticals and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s free daily email newsletter.
