Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 43,682 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 989,342 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,682 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $441,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 23.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 447,169 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $202,612,000 after purchasing an additional 86,084 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 832,853 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $377,582,000 after buying an additional 69,150 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 414.1% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 14,036 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,363,000 after buying an additional 11,306 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 77.1% in the first quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 77,886 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $34,779,000 after buying an additional 33,917 shares during the period. Finally, Sandro Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $1,436,000. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $607.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $437.00 to $436.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $543.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $559.61.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $480.50 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $463.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $459.19. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $362.50 and a 1 year high of $533.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.50, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.29.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 35.51% and a return on equity of 23.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.06 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 17.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.99, for a total transaction of $787,485.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 45,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,793,071.79. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 6,988 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total value of $3,144,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 26,088 shares in the company, valued at $11,739,600. This trade represents a 21.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,874 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,966. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Profile

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc is a Boston-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for serious diseases. Founded in 1989, Vertex built its reputation on research-driven drug development and is best known for its work in cystic fibrosis (CF), where its portfolio of small-molecule CFTR modulators transformed standards of care for many people with the disease. The company operates research and development, manufacturing and commercial organizations and serves patients and healthcare systems in multiple international markets.

Vertex’s marketed products center on CFTR modulators that target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis rather than just treating symptoms.