Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd Sells 926 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd decreased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,413 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 926 shares during the period. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $4,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 70.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 58 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. 90.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 310 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.83, for a total value of $142,547.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 64,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,438,776.43. The trade was a 0.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,256,000. This represents a 10.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,315 shares of company stock worth $2,121,012. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VRTX. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $535.00 to $533.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $408.00 to $424.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $433.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $408.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $509.17.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.0 %

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $484.74 on Wednesday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $377.85 and a one year high of $519.88. The business’s fifty day moving average is $478.85 and its 200 day moving average is $463.67. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $124.48 billion, a PE ratio of -220.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.99 by ($0.45). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.86% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current 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.