Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 2,064 Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,064 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,031,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,975,849,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,440,149,000. AIGH Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,725,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $830,842,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $784,391,000. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VRTX shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $560.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $612.00 to $616.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $436.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $615.00 to $617.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $563.50.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRTX opened at $552.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $140.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.30. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $496.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $467.04. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $374.17 and a 52 week high of $555.69.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.74 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.33 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.99, for a total transaction of $787,485.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 45,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,793,071.79. The trade was a 3.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 596 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $482.50, for a total transaction of $287,570.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 15,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,400,102.50. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,464 shares of company stock worth $4,959,397. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Profile

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc is a Boston-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for serious diseases. Founded in 1989, Vertex built its reputation on research-driven drug development and is best known for its work in cystic fibrosis (CF), where its portfolio of small-molecule CFTR modulators transformed standards of care for many people with the disease. The company operates research and development, manufacturing and commercial organizations and serves patients and healthcare systems in multiple international markets.

Vertex’s marketed products center on CFTR modulators that target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis rather than just treating symptoms.