Insider Selling: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) CMO Sells 2,280 Shares of Stock

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) CMO Carmen Bozic sold 2,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.72, for a total transaction of $1,075,521.60. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 30,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,198,300.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Carmen Bozic also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, June 12th, Carmen Bozic sold 2,280 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.00, for a total value of $1,089,840.00.
• On Wednesday, May 29th, Carmen Bozic sold 2,280 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $445.56, for a total value of $1,015,876.80.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $2.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $469.63. 728,437 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,223,542. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $441.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $425.06. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $335.82 and a 52 week high of $486.42. The firm has a market cap of $121.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 3.50 and a quick ratio of 3.29.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.66 by $1.10. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 39.46% and a return on equity of 23.08%. The business had revenue of $2.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.67 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 25,567,184 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,687,339,000 after acquiring an additional 3,761,414 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,676,518 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,479,011,000 after buying an additional 394,338 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 61.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,743,882 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,401,000,000 after buying an additional 2,176,218 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.2% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,782,374 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,999,080,000 after acquiring an additional 837,461 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $1,237,877,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $540.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim upped their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $445.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $424.00 to $421.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $448.61.

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.