Sanctuary Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 39,811 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,775,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VRTX. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $12,490,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,003,000. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $531,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $67,176,000. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $6,328,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VRTX. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $525.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $615.00 to $617.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, 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 note on Monday, July 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given 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 $563.50.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $548.05 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.10 billion, a PE ratio of 31.90, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.30. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $492.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $465.88. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $374.17 and a one year high of $555.32.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.74 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.09% and a net margin of 35.00%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.99, for a total transaction of $787,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 45,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,793,071.79. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 4,062 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total value of $1,827,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 16,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,628,850. This trade represents a 19.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 10,464 shares of company stock valued at $4,959,397 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

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.