Sunbelt Securities Inc. Sells 65 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,681 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 65 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,816,249 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,495,501,000 after purchasing an additional 90,173 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,798,870 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,231,858,000 after acquiring an additional 704,421 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% in 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 period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,516,831 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,170,506,000 after purchasing an additional 100,114 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VRTX shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $562.00 to $586.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $506.20.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of VRTX opened at $464.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.47. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $372.80 and a 12 month high of $519.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $473.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $475.88.

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

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.