Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Sells 450 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC cut its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,190 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 450 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 valued at $5,495,501,000 after buying an additional 90,173 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,550,386 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,581,373,000 after acquiring an additional 851,054 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% during 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 raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,351,385,000 after acquiring an additional 159,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the third 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $441.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.20. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $377.85 and a one year high of $519.88. The company has a market cap of $113.70 billion, a PE ratio of -221.87, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $434.75 and a 200-day moving average of $463.64.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.77. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.67 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $361.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. HC Wainwright decreased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $600.00 to $535.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $437.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $503.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $509.00 to $418.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.76.

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.