Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 11,423 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 2.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 426,523 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,423 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $190,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VRTX. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 277.8% during the fourth quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on VRTX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $577.00 to $572.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $437.00 to $436.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 28th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $542.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $543.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $559.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Joy Liu sold 1,104 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $425.02, for a total value of $469,222.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,810,239.58. This trade represents a 5.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 6,988 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total value of $3,144,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 26,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,739,600. This trade represents a 21.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 18,874 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,966 in the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of VRTX opened at $476.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.89 billion, a PE ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.29. The company’s fifty day moving average is $459.21 and its 200 day moving average is $458.56. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $362.50 and a fifty-two week high of $533.67.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 35.51% and a return on equity of 23.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.06 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 17.03 earnings per share for the current year.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc is a Boston-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for serious diseases. Founded in 1989, Vertex built its reputation on research-driven drug development and is best known for its work in cystic fibrosis (CF), where its portfolio of small-molecule CFTR modulators transformed standards of care for many people with the disease. The company operates research and development, manufacturing and commercial organizations and serves patients and healthcare systems in multiple international markets.

Vertex’s marketed products center on CFTR modulators that target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis rather than just treating symptoms.