Boston Common Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 50,292 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $20,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,816,249 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,495,501,000 after purchasing an additional 90,173 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% during the third 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 position in shares of 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 buying an additional 704,421 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,351,385,000 after buying an additional 159,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 100,114 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTX traded up $6.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $423.44. 216,445 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,406,645. The company has a market cap of $109.05 billion, a PE ratio of -212.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $444.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $466.83. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $377.85 and a 12-month high of $519.88.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.77. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 1.91% and a negative net margin of 4.52%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.67 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.9 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on VRTX. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $460.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. 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 note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $490.00 to $494.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.38.

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.