Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Sells 225 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,545 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 225 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $3,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the 3rd 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% during the 3rd 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% during the 3rd 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% during the 3rd 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 lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 100,114 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on VRTX. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $535.00 to $533.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $503.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $505.57.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRTX opened at $459.00 on Monday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $377.85 and a 1 year high of $519.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $435.69 and its 200 day moving average is $461.24.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced 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 net margin of 4.52% and a negative return on equity of 1.91%. On average, analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.83, for a total value of $142,547.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 64,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,438,776.43. This represents a 0.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

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.