Stephens Inc. AR Has $1.28 Million Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Stephens Inc. AR cut its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,430 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 274 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 206.3% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,751 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,240,000 after purchasing an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 9.6% during the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,737 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 69.4% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,622 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,728,000 after purchasing an additional 2,713 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 28.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 44,090 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,756,000 after purchasing an additional 9,761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,114 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,683,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $286.00 to $285.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, December 19th. SVB Securities cut their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $374.00 to $365.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $311.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday. They issued a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.10.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 275 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.99, for a total transaction of $82,222.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 65,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,663,077.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Charles F. Wagner, Jr. sold 2,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.61, for a total value of $604,705.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 56,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,231,192.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.99, for a total transaction of $82,222.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,663,077.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,916 shares of company stock valued at $12,466,970 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of VRTX stock traded down $4.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $295.77. 1,675,984 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,006,545. The business has a 50 day moving average of $299.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $299.14. The company has a current ratio of 4.83, a quick ratio of 4.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $233.01 and a 52 week high of $325.19. The company has a market capitalization of $76.04 billion, a PE ratio of 23.05, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 7th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.65. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 37.20% and a return on equity of 27.78%. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

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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.