Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC Takes $522,000 Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,151 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $522,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 118.8% in the 3rd quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 70 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 277.8% during the 4th quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 68 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRTX opened at $451.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.30. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $438.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $453.13. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $362.50 and a 1 year high of $507.92.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.23. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.86% and a net margin of 35.51%.The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 17.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on VRTX. Weiss Ratings upgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $571.00 to $598.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $577.00 to $572.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $541.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $555.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, EVP Joy Liu sold 1,104 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $425.02, for a total transaction of $469,222.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,810,239.58. The trade was a 5.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 318 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.73, for a total transaction of $134,746.14. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,924 shares in the company, valued at $2,086,446.52. This trade represents a 6.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 15,195 shares of company stock valued at $6,801,006 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc is a Boston-based biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for serious diseases. Founded in 1989, Vertex built its reputation on research-driven drug development and is best known for its work in cystic fibrosis (CF), where its portfolio of small-molecule CFTR modulators transformed standards of care for many people with the disease. The company operates research and development, manufacturing and commercial organizations and serves patients and healthcare systems in multiple international markets.

Vertex’s marketed products center on CFTR modulators that target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis rather than just treating symptoms.