Altshuler Shaham Ltd Has $1.41 Million Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Altshuler Shaham Ltd trimmed its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 17.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,000 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 655 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth about $27,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRTX has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $505.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $402.00 to $455.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $472.00 to $509.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $486.36.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $464.92 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $119.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $482.66 and its 200-day moving average is $452.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $341.85 and a 12 month high of $510.64.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported ($12.83) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($12.54) by ($0.29). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 2.45% and a negative net margin of 4.74%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.53 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -2.14 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 646 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $323,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,217,500. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 646 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $323,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,217,500. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Reshma Kewalramani sold 15,202 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $497.00, for a total value of $7,555,394.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,767,484. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,047 shares of company stock worth $16,843,806 in the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.