Congress Asset Management Co. Buys 40,427 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 27.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 187,576 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,427 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. owned about 0.07% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $90,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,510,000. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 5,771 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,324,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors now owns 61,161 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $24,630,000 after acquiring an additional 12,631 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 75.5% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,468 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $994,000 after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 362,334 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $145,912,000 after buying an additional 2,855 shares during the period. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP David Altshuler sold 3,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $1,615,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,256,000. This represents a 10.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ VRTX opened at $450.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 2.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $465.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $460.27. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $377.85 and a 1 year high of $519.88. The company has a market cap of $115.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -204.77, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.29 by ($0.23). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.86% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.76 earnings per share. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on VRTX. Wolfe Research lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $512.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $460.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $408.00 to $424.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $442.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.04.

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.