Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) Shares Sold by TD Asset Management Inc.

TD Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 469,068 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 53,137 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $188,894,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $731,283,000. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $435,899,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,798,870 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,231,858,000 after purchasing an additional 704,421 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 169.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 839,672 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $338,136,000 after purchasing an additional 528,029 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $190,037,000. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on VRTX shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets set a $545.00 price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $459.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $407.00 to $408.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $506.70.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $509.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -231.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $471.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $463.08. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $377.85 and a fifty-two week high of $519.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 2.35.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.99 by ($0.45). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 2.02% and a negative net margin of 4.86%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP David Altshuler sold 3,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total transaction of $1,615,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,512 shares in the company, valued at $13,256,000. This represents a 10.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.06, for a total value of $111,034.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,805,286.70. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 4,315 shares of company stock valued at $2,121,012. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.