Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Shares Sold by AustralianSuper Pty Ltd

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lessened its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 59.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,256 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 76,687 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $22,819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,917,227 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,414,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226,527 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at $484,053,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,062,442 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,454,373,000 after buying an additional 744,680 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 28.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,775,194 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $860,650,000 after buying an additional 398,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 456.9% in the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 431,804 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $209,347,000 after buying an additional 354,269 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VRTX shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $430.00 to $405.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets set a $530.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. UBS Group set a $553.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. HC Wainwright lowered their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $478.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $535.00 to $485.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $494.38.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

VRTX stock opened at $420.17 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $399.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $433.85. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $362.50 and a 12 month high of $519.88. The company has a market cap of $107.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.03 and a beta of 0.43.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.28. The firm 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 for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($12.83) EPS. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce I. Sachs acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $389.68 per share, for a total transaction of $1,948,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 45,000 shares in the company, valued at $17,535,600. This represents a 12.50% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.