Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX Position Decreased by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp decreased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 6.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 76,528 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 5,370 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $40,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRTX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $11,975,849,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,871,459 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,896,910,000 after purchasing an additional 141,320 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,247,658 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,613,209,000 after purchasing an additional 35,069 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,086,683 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,533,248,000 after purchasing an additional 29,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $1,509,651,000. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VRTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $665.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $560.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $558.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Daiwa Securities Group boosted their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $555.00 to $556.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $596.44.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of VRTX opened at $542.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $137.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.89. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $412.27 and a 1 year high of $568.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $522.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $483.52.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.82 by ($0.06). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 21.98% and a net margin of 30.70%. The company had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.80 EPS. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 16.10 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1989, it develops medicines for serious diseases, with a long-standing focus on cystic fibrosis (CF). Vertex’s CF treatments include medicines that target the underlying protein defect, such as Trikafta/Kaftrio, Alyftrek, Kalydeco, Orkambi and Symdeko/Symkevi. The company also markets Journavx, a non-opioid medicine for acute pain, and partnered with CRISPR Therapeutics to develop Casgevy, a gene-editing treatment for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia.