Western Wealth Management LLC Takes $523,000 Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,052 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Community Financial Services Group LLC acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 103.7% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 55 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.99, for a total value of $787,485.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 45,321 shares in the company, valued at $23,793,071.79. This represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Duncan Mckechnie sold 1,541 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $519.00, for a total value of $799,779.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,709,519. The trade was a 12.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 10,464 shares of company stock valued at $4,959,397 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on VRTX. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $590.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $560.00 to $565.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $436.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $563.50.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of VRTX opened at $552.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $140.31 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $496.59 and a 200-day moving average of $467.04. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $374.17 and a one year high of $555.69.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.74 by ($0.01). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 35.00% and a return on equity of 23.09%. The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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.