Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Acquires 223,081 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 223,081 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,629,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $11,975,849,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,871,459 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,896,910,000 after purchasing an additional 141,320 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,247,658 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,613,209,000 after buying an additional 35,069 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% in the second 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 valued at $1,533,248,000 after buying an additional 29,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $1,509,651,000. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $585.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $570.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $653.00 price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $579.81.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $558.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $141.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.28. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $403.16 and a 12 month high of $563.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $523.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $479.47.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its 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 net margin of 35.00% and a return on equity of 23.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.74 earnings per share 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.