Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. Grows Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. grew its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 649.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,685 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,060 shares during the period. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VRTX. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 447,169 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $202,612,000 after purchasing an additional 86,084 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 130.2% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 5,341 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 3,021 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 832,853 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $377,582,000 after buying an additional 69,150 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 414.1% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 14,036 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,363,000 after buying an additional 11,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sandro Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $1,436,000. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 318 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.73, for a total value of $134,746.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Duncan Mckechnie sold 1,541 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.00, for a total transaction of $799,779.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,001 shares in the company, valued at $5,709,519. The trade was a 12.29% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,874 shares of company stock valued at $8,707,966. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.1%

VRTX opened at $485.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $123.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $462.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $459.00. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $362.50 and a 52 week high of $533.67.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.06 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 17.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VRTX shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein cut 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. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered 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 report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $607.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $559.61.

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.