Private Wealth Partners LLC Trims Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Private Wealth Partners LLC lowered its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX - Free Report) by 38.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,495 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock after selling 930 shares during the period. Private Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,816,249 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $5,495,501,000 after purchasing an additional 90,173 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,550,386 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,581,373,000 after purchasing an additional 851,054 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% in 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 stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% in 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 lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,170,506,000 after purchasing an additional 100,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 244 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.06, for a total value of $111,034.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,805,286.70. The trade was a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $522.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $503.00 to $500.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $433.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $408.00 to $424.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $505.61.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $3.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $484.10. 793,579 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,520,611. The stock has a market cap of $124.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -220.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $435.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $460.65. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $377.85 and a 12-month high of $519.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 2.35.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.99 by ($0.45). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 2.02% and a negative net margin of 4.86%. As a group, analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.