FORA Capital LLC Acquires 1,229 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

FORA Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,402 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $4,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $662,000. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 79,117 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $37,084,000 after acquiring an additional 3,998 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 289.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 77,393 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $35,994,000 after acquiring an additional 57,497 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 640.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,443 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248 shares during the period. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $74,213,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 646 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $323,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,217,500. The trade was a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 3,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $499.00, for a total value of $1,888,216.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 9,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,987,006. This trade represents a 27.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,445 shares of company stock worth $2,218,394 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ VRTX traded down $1.08 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $465.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 169,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,187,879. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $346.29 and a fifty-two week high of $519.88. The company has a market cap of $120.01 billion, a PE ratio of -234.71 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $473.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $474.35.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.77. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.52% and a negative return on equity of 1.91%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.67 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on VRTX. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $480.00 price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $473.00 to $476.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $558.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $472.00 to $509.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $504.38.

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.