Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Stock: Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Position

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 594,358 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 17,549 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $310,736,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $116,629,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 294,124 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $153,771,000 after acquiring an additional 6,277 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.5% in the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 9,344 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,885,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.4% in the third quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 25,689 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,430,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.7% in the third quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC now owns 2,145 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on VRTX. Truist Financial lifted 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. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $436.00 to $442.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $615.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Evercore upped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $579.81.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $558.88 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $403.16 and a one year high of $563.80. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $523.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $479.47. The stock has a market capitalization 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 (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.74 by ($0.01). The firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.74 EPS for the current year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company 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.