WASHINGTON TRUST Co Acquires 60 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 691 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $281,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 206.3% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,751 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,240,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 9.6% during the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,737 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 69.4% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,622 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,728,000 after purchasing an additional 2,713 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 28.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 44,090 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,756,000 after purchasing an additional 9,761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,114 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,683,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VRTX shares. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $332.00 to $379.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $436.00 to $438.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $417.27.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRTX traded up $0.08 during trading on Thursday, hitting $417.40. The stock had a trading volume of 477,606 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,310,787. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $310.90 and a 12 month high of $448.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 3.99 and a quick ratio of 3.78. The company has a market capitalization of $107.82 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $423.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $390.87.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.85 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 21.91% and a net margin of 36.68%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 14.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Amit Sachdev sold 3,222 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total value of $1,354,013.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 74,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,250,727.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Amit Sachdev sold 3,222 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total value of $1,354,013.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,364 shares in the company, valued at $31,250,727.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Kristen Ambrose sold 1,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $420.24, for a total value of $577,409.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,676 shares in the company, valued at $4,066,242.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,029 shares of company stock valued at $7,989,227. Insiders own 0.30% 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.