Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $11.50 Million in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 23,154 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,501,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Community Financial Services Group LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 103.7% in the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 55 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on VRTX. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $436.00 to $442.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $615.00 to $617.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $590.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $563.50.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ VRTX opened at $547.55 on Friday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $374.17 and a fifty-two week high of $555.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $500.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $468.15. The firm has a market cap of $138.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.30.

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 company 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 business’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 596 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $482.50, for a total transaction of $287,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 15,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,400,102.50. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.00, for a total value of $799,779.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,709,519. This trade represents a 12.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,464 shares of company stock worth $4,959,397. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.