Jennison Associates LLC Sells 509,482 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 15.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,740,059 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 509,482 shares during the quarter. Vertex Pharmaceuticals makes up approximately 0.8% of Jennison Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,223,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 277.8% during the 4th quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VRTX shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $543.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $607.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Twenty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $559.61.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.1%

VRTX opened at $485.65 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $362.50 and a 12-month high of $533.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $462.54 and a 200-day moving average of $459.00. The stock has a market cap of $123.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.29.

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. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.86% and a net margin of 35.51%.The business had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.06 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 17.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 318 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.73, for a total transaction of $134,746.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,086,446.52. The trade was a 6.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Joy Liu sold 1,104 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.02, for a total transaction of $469,222.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 20,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,810,239.58. This represents a 5.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,874 shares of company stock worth $8,707,966. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.