Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Shares Sold by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. cut its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,532 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,505 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $5,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 450.0% in the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 55 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Flaharty Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $553.00 to $546.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Leerink Partners raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $458.00 to $456.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $408.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $491.95.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ VRTX opened at $433.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $417.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.93. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $362.50 and a 12-month high of $519.68. The company has a market cap of $109.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.96 and a beta of 0.36.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.58 by $0.22. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.91% and a net margin of 31.86%.The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 53,604 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $440.72, for a total value of $23,624,354.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 24,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,588,738.72. This trade represents a 69.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals 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.