Farther Finance Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 19.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,871 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $1,374,948,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 60,572.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,425,070 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,175,722,000 after acquiring an additional 2,421,073 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $731,283,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 28,325,695 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $11,406,667,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,993 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,428,951 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,199,713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,426,746 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $452.44 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $463.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $460.26. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $377.85 and a twelve month high of $519.88. 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 company has a market cap of $116.19 billion, a PE ratio of -205.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.23). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 2.02% and a negative net margin of 4.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.76 earnings per share. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $512.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Leerink Partners restated a “market perform” rating and set a $503.00 price objective (down from $550.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.04.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

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.