Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) Shares Sold by Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB

Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB lowered its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 24.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 63,500 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 20,000 shares during the quarter. Vertex Pharmaceuticals makes up about 2.4% of Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $22,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VRTX. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 99,752.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 171,204,312 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $60,248,509,000 after acquiring an additional 171,032,855 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $707,950,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 40.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,590,190 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,076,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,892,523 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 410.9% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,451,874 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $92,731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167,674 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,517,548 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,368,554,000 after purchasing an additional 689,965 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.77% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.00, for a total value of $887,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,266,135. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 12,962 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.00, for a total value of $4,847,788.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 22,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,386,950. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.00, for a total value of $887,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,266,135. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,411 shares of company stock valued at $18,511,525 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $456.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $359.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 16th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $376.13.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of VRTX stock traded down $2.63 on Tuesday, hitting $354.21. 445,992 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,192,727. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 4.08 and a quick ratio of 3.89. The company has a market capitalization of $91.27 billion, a PE ratio of 26.77, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.45. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1-year low of $282.21 and a 1-year high of $387.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $360.48 and its 200 day moving average is $350.73.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 6th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.53 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 22.79% and a net margin of 35.94%. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.62 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 13.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). It markets TRIKAFTA/KAFTRIO and SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI for people with CF with at least one F508del mutation for 6 years of age or older; ORKAMBI for CF homozygous F508del mutation for CF patients 2 year or older; and KALYDECO for the treatment of patients with 4 months or older who have CF with a mutation that is responsive to ivacaftor, and R117H mutation or one of certain gating mutations.