Arizona State Retirement System Grows Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,607 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 673 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $30,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 978 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 43.8% in the fourth quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 4,134 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,665,000 after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 12,118 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,880,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC now owns 16,008 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,446,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,781 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $712,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on VRTX. Bank of America cut their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $535.00 to $533.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $460.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $506.70.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 530 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.34, for a total transaction of $251,930.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 58,539 shares in the company, valued at $27,825,928.26. This trade represents a 0.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,084 shares of company stock worth $505,512. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $486.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $124.86 billion, a PE ratio of -221.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.35, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $443.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $461.12. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $377.85 and a 52 week high of $519.88.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.