Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Makes New Investment in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 135,236 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,176,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Community Financial Services Group LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 103.7% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 55 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $548.05 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $139.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.30. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $374.17 and a fifty-two week high of $555.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $492.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $465.88.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.74 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.23 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.09% and a net margin of 35.00%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In related news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.99, for a total transaction of $787,485.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 45,321 shares in the company, valued at $23,793,071.79. This trade represents a 3.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Duncan Mckechnie sold 1,541 shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.00, for a total transaction of $799,779.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,709,519. This represents a 12.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,464 shares of company stock valued at $4,959,397. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $612.00 to $616.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $590.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $615.00 to $617.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $563.50.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.