Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Acquires 439 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 14.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,459 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 757 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 438,091 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $178,351,000 after acquiring an additional 32,739 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 16,274 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,554,000 after acquiring an additional 4,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $5,359,000. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on VRTX. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Leerink Partnrs lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Leerink Partners reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $503.00 price target (down previously from $550.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $442.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $512.30.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $469.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.65 and a quick ratio of 2.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $453.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $464.68. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $377.85 and a 1 year high of $519.88. The company has a market capitalization of $120.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -119.81 and a beta of 0.41.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.23). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 3.36% and a negative net margin of 8.91%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.76 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company 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.