New Century Financial Group LLC Sells 349 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

New Century Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,187 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 349 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Reshma Kewalramani sold 15,202 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $497.00, for a total transaction of $7,555,394.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,767,484. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 5,295 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.00, for a total value of $2,689,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,320,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Reshma Kewalramani sold 15,202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $497.00, for a total value of $7,555,394.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,767,484. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,767 shares of company stock valued at $15,768,284. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on VRTX. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $465.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $371.00 to $376.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $505.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $472.00 to $509.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $487.23.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of VRTX opened at $469.76 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $121.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $478.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $454.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 2.26. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $341.85 and a 1 year high of $510.64.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported ($12.83) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($12.54) by ($0.29). The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.74% and a negative return on equity of 2.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.53 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.