Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Shares in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 980 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $459,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VRTX. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on VRTX. Barclays downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $472.00 to $509.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $558.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $540.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $480.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $485.91.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.7 %

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $481.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $124.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.23 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $341.85 and a twelve month high of $510.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $483.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $451.24.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported ($12.83) EPS 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 business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -2.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 2,280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.72, for a total transaction of $1,075,521.60. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 30,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,198,300.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 2,280 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.72, for a total value of $1,075,521.60. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 30,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,198,300.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Reshma Kewalramani sold 15,202 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $497.00, for a total transaction of $7,555,394.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,172 shares in the company, valued at $52,767,484. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,047 shares of company stock valued at $16,843,806. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.