Advisor Group Holdings Inc. Has $16.68 Million Stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Advisor Group Holdings Inc. decreased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 57,772 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,953 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $16,684,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,149 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $251,000. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 38,736 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $12,085,000 after acquiring an additional 3,190 shares during the last quarter. Ardevora Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $41,267,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VRTX shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $280.00 to $325.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $296.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $344.00 to $363.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 3rd. SVB Securities decreased their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $374.00 to $365.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, Westpark Capital initiated coverage on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 5,034 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.47, for a total transaction of $1,447,123.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 56,556 shares in the company, valued at $16,258,153.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, COO Stuart A. Arbuckle sold 5,034 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.47, for a total transaction of $1,447,123.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 56,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,258,153.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Kristen Ambrose sold 1,207 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.55, for a total transaction of $347,072.85. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,099,977.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 64,497 shares of company stock worth $20,835,867 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $332.63 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $243.17 and a 52-week high of $354.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $328.99 and a 200 day moving average of $311.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.67 billion, a PE ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 4.11 and a current ratio of 4.28.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.54. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 35.40% and a return on equity of 25.06%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 13.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a global biotechnology company, which engages in the business of discovering, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing small molecule drugs for patients with serious diseases. The firm focuses on development and commercializing therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, infectious diseases including viral infections such as influenza and bacterial infections, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and neurological disorders including pain and multiple sclerosis.