Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Position Cut by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lowered its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 61.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,603 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,594 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $714,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VRTX. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 450.0% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 55 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. American National Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 515.4% in the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 80 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Bruce I. Sachs bought 5,000 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $389.68 per share, for a total transaction of $1,948,400.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 45,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,535,600. This represents a 12.50% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VRTX. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $442.00 to $438.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $439.00 to $438.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 10th. HC Wainwright lowered their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $478.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $490.00 price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.38.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $421.39 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $398.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $434.87. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $362.50 and a 52-week high of $519.88. The firm has a market cap of $108.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.12 and a beta of 0.43.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 23.91%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($12.83) EPS. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current year.

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.