961 Shares in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) Bought by MQS Management LLC

MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 961 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. Telos Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,073 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,133,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 2,368 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $990,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 29,897 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,497,000 after buying an additional 3,999 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 124,197 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $50,535,000 after buying an additional 8,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 216.3% during the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 4,830 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,965,000 after buying an additional 3,303 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $1.46 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $492.26. 988,617 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,210,873. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $473.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $436.76. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $340.20 and a fifty-two week high of $503.99. The stock has a market cap of $127.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 3.50 and a quick ratio of 3.29.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.66 by $1.10. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.08% and a net margin of 39.46%. The business had revenue of $2.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.67 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 7,073 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $448.00, for a total transaction of $3,168,704.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,920,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 7,073 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $448.00, for a total transaction of $3,168,704.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,920,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Reshma Kewalramani sold 1,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.00, for a total value of $715,205.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,467,918. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,128 shares of company stock valued at $22,839,005 in the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $402.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $424.00 to $421.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Guggenheim upped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. HC Wainwright upped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $462.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $460.30.

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.