Cetera Investment Advisers Buys 328 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 53,957 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $21,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VRTX. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 99 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 108.2% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 102 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.2 %

VRTX stock opened at $429.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -195.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 2.35. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1-year low of $377.85 and a 1-year high of $519.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $489.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $466.24.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.85 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 2.02% and a negative net margin of 4.86%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.76 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRTX. Leerink Partners reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $503.00 price objective (down from $550.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday. Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $512.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $462.00 to $464.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued 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 “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 310 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.83, for a total transaction of $142,547.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 64,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,438,776.43. This represents a 0.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP David Altshuler sold 3,231 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $1,615,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,256,000. The trade was a 10.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,315 shares of company stock worth $2,121,012. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.