Montecito Bank & Trust Buys New Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Montecito Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,239 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $877,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,973,777 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,673,126,000 after acquiring an additional 482,616 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,151,505 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,738,650,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089,063 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,747 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,627,135,000 after purchasing an additional 166,987 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.7% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,378,320 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,949,228,000 after purchasing an additional 424,808 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% in the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,813,378 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,697,716,000 after purchasing an additional 65,047 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $447.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $113.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.55 and a beta of 0.32. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $362.50 and a fifty-two week high of $519.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $429.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $425.94.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.58 by $0.22. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 31.35%.The business had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.38 earnings per share. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Charles F. Wagner, Jr. sold 14,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.00, for a total transaction of $6,384,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 37,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,202,600. This represents a 27.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 63,781 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $449.20, for a total transaction of $28,650,425.20. Following the sale, the chairman owned 24,026 shares in the company, valued at $10,792,479.20. This represents a 72.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 151,073 shares of company stock valued at $67,326,816 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VRTX. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $423.00 to $415.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $460.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $455.00 to $445.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $564.00 price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $498.42.

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.