Claro Advisors LLC Buys 591 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Claro Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 43.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,954 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 2,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.00, for a total value of $1,089,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 32,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,477,162. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 2,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.00, for a total value of $1,089,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 32,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,477,162. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Edward Morrow Atkinson III sold 7,288 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.00, for a total transaction of $3,483,664.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,634,616. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,185 shares of company stock valued at $19,206,094. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on VRTX. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $424.00 to $421.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $402.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $505.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $550.00 price target (up from $508.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $485.91.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $495.89 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $127.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 0.39. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $340.83 and a twelve month high of $510.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a current ratio of 2.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $482.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $446.83.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported ($12.83) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($12.54) by ($0.29). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 2.45% and a negative net margin of 4.74%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals 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.