Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) Holdings Cut by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP reduced its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 32.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 127,000 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 60,139 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $59,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ grew its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ now owns 1,794 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $841,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 3,586 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,101 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC grew its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 158 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 6.0% during the second quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 423 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $371.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $505.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $472.00 to $509.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $486.36.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.7 %

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $462.99 on Wednesday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $341.85 and a 52 week high of $510.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a current ratio of 2.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.04 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $481.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $453.10.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported ($12.83) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($12.54) by ($0.29). The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.74% and a negative return on equity of 2.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.53 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -2.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 5,295 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.00, for a total transaction of $2,689,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,320,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 5,295 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.00, for a total value of $2,689,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,320,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Reshma Kewalramani sold 15,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $497.00, for a total transaction of $7,555,394.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,172 shares in the company, valued at $52,767,484. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,767 shares of company stock valued at $15,768,284 in the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company 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.