Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 91.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 240 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,487 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $94,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,593,974,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 72.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,917,227 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,414,331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226,527 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 6,151,505 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,738,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,063 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 214.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 763,703 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $299,097,000 after purchasing an additional 520,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,973,777 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,673,126,000 after purchasing an additional 482,616 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VRTX shares. Morgan Stanley set a $564.00 price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $408.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wall Street Zen cut Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Leerink Partnrs raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $498.42.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $449.52 on Thursday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $362.50 and a fifty-two week high of $519.68. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $429.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $425.79. The stock has a market cap of $114.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.70 and a beta of 0.32.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 31.35%.The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.38 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Charles F. Wagner, Jr. sold 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.00, for a total value of $6,384,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 37,725 shares in the company, valued at $17,202,600. This trade represents a 27.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 63,781 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $449.20, for a total transaction of $28,650,425.20. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 24,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,792,479.20. The trade was a 72.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 151,073 shares of company stock worth $67,326,816 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.