Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Sells 183,696 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lowered its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 33.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 371,969 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 183,696 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $172,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,550,386 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,581,373,000 after acquiring an additional 851,054 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,905,705 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,351,385,000 after purchasing an additional 159,693 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,422,677 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,135,556,000 after purchasing an additional 29,104 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,626,347 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $756,381,000 after purchasing an additional 20,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgewood Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 7,876.3% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 1,546,370 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $719,186,000 after buying an additional 1,526,983 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $468.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $120.56 billion, a PE ratio of -235.24 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $347.51 and a 12-month high of $519.88. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $472.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $474.48.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.77. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.52% and a negative return on equity of 1.91%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.67 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on VRTX. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $361.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $472.00 to $509.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 target price (up from $508.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $473.00 to $476.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $504.38.

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.