Carmen Bozic Sells 4,062 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) Stock

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) CMO Carmen Bozic sold 4,062 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total transaction of $1,827,900.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 16,953 shares in the company, valued at $7,628,850. The trade was a 19.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

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

• On Friday, June 5th, Carmen Bozic sold 1,745 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total transaction of $785,250.00.
• On Tuesday, May 12th, Carmen Bozic sold 6,988 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total value of $3,144,600.00.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.3%

NASDAQ:VRTX traded up $5.82 on Wednesday, reaching $458.99. 1,523,826 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,372,838. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $437.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $452.82. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $362.50 and a 12 month high of $507.92. The firm has a market cap of $116.49 billion, a PE ratio of 27.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.30.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.24 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.86% and a net margin of 35.51%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.06 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 17.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $437.00 to $436.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $542.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $571.00 to $598.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $577.00 to $572.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $555.91.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRTX. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $1,440,149,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 77.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,689,059 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,836,550,000 after purchasing an additional 2,053,156 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,356,766 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,521,851,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,200 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 17,316,344 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,850,544,000 after buying an additional 763,063 shares during the period. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $166,317,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

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.