ARK Investment Management LLC Has $50.54 Million Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,197 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 8,866 shares during the quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $50,535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,983,356 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,644,492,000 after purchasing an additional 87,397 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,331,593 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,339,611,000 after buying an additional 124,141 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,409,257 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,700,938,000 after buying an additional 26,538 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,870,101 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $998,050,000 after buying an additional 89,217 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,813,563 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $978,388,000 after buying an additional 131,539 shares during the period. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $417.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 3.78 and a current ratio of 3.99. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $309.43 and a 52-week high of $448.40. The company has a market capitalization of $107.80 billion, a PE ratio of 30.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s fifty day moving average is $423.10 and its 200 day moving average is $390.87.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by $0.35. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 21.91% and a net margin of 36.68%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 14.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 354 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.70, for a total value of $150,697.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,755,762.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 354 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.70, for a total value of $150,697.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,755,762.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amit Sachdev sold 3,222 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total value of $1,354,013.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,250,727.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,029 shares of company stock valued at $7,989,227 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $397.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $436.00 to $438.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $390.00 to $438.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $417.27.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

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.