Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Sells 9,892 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp cut its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 35.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,016 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 9,892 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $8,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,973,777 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,673,126,000 after buying an additional 482,616 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,089,063 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,747 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,627,135,000 after acquiring an additional 166,987 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 10.7% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,378,320 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,949,228,000 after purchasing an additional 424,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,813,378 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,697,716,000 after purchasing an additional 65,047 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.8%

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $455.71 on Tuesday. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $362.50 and a 52-week high of $519.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $427.56 and its 200 day moving average is $425.53. The company has a market cap of $115.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.14 and a beta of 0.32.

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

Insider Activity at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 63,781 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $10,792,479.20. The trade was a 72.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles F. Wagner, Jr. sold 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 37,725 shares in the company, valued at $17,202,600. The trade was a 27.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 151,073 shares of company stock worth $67,326,816 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $495.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $423.00 to $415.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $498.42.

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.