Stevens Capital Management LP Purchases New Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 2,058 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $829,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commerce Bank grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 11.6% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 7,443 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,462,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,119 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% in the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 641 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 23.4% in the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 18,250 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,487,000 after purchasing an additional 3,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 14.6% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 229,042 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $106,523,000 after purchasing an additional 29,225 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $460.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $503.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $506.70.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

VRTX stock opened at $503.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $467.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $462.60. The company has a market capitalization of $129.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -228.73, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1-year low of $377.85 and a 1-year high of $519.88.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.99 by ($0.45). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.86% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP David Altshuler sold 3,231 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $1,615,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,256,000. The trade was a 10.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.06, for a total transaction of $111,034.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 67,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,805,286.70. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,315 shares of company stock worth $2,121,012 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.