Oak Ridge Investments LLC Sells 77 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Oak Ridge Investments LLC lowered its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 4.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,822 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 77 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $854,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21,750.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 115,150 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $46,853,000 after purchasing an additional 114,623 shares during the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 856 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 752.4% during the fourth quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 23,142 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,416,000 after buying an additional 20,427 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 86,827 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $35,329,000 after acquiring an additional 3,856 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.63 on Thursday, hitting $472.07. The stock had a trading volume of 665,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,215,019. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $480.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $441.77. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $340.83 and a one year high of $510.64. The company has a quick ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a market cap of $121.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.59 and a beta of 0.39.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported ($12.83) earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $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, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.83 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 7,073 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $448.00, for a total transaction of $3,168,704.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,920,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 7,073 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $448.00, for a total transaction of $3,168,704.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,920,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 5,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.00, for a total value of $2,689,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,320,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,703 shares of company stock valued at $26,615,855 over the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRTX. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $558.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $545.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $485.91.

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.