Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Reduces Stock Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc reduced its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,196 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 445 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,816,249 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,495,501,000 after acquiring an additional 90,173 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,550,386 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,581,373,000 after acquiring an additional 851,054 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,798,870 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,231,858,000 after acquiring an additional 704,421 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,905,705 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,351,385,000 after acquiring an additional 159,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,516,831 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,170,506,000 after acquiring an additional 100,114 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VRTX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $433.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $562.00 to $586.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $503.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $408.00 to $424.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $506.70.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 244 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.06, for a total transaction of $111,034.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 67,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,805,286.70. The trade was a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $484.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $124.35 billion, a PE ratio of -220.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $377.85 and a 52-week high of $519.88. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $436.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $460.61.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.99 by ($0.45). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 2.02% and a negative net margin of 4.86%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.