Pacer Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX - Free Report) by 19.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,800 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,359 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $15,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VRTX. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,816,249 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $5,495,501,000 after acquiring an additional 90,173 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,550,386 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,581,373,000 after purchasing an additional 851,054 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,798,870 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,231,858,000 after purchasing an additional 704,421 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,905,705 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,351,385,000 after purchasing an additional 159,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,516,831 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,170,506,000 after acquiring an additional 100,114 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $503.00 to $500.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $460.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $566.00 to $520.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $562.00 to $586.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $437.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $502.58.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 5.3 %

Shares of VRTX traded up $23.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $461.68. The company had a trading volume of 3,646,769 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,346,207. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $377.85 and a 52 week high of $519.88. The company has a market capitalization of $118.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -232.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $434.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $463.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.47.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.77. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 business posted $3.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.93 EPS for the current year.

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.