ProShare Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

ProShare Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 10.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 269,741 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 30,529 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $126,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VRTX. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the second quarter. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ now owns 1,794 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $841,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the second quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 3,586 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,101 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 158 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,001 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $407,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 5,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.00, for a total transaction of $2,689,860.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,320,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Vertex Pharmaceuticals news, CMO Carmen Bozic sold 2,280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.72, for a total value of $1,075,521.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 30,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,198,300.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce I. Sachs sold 5,295 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.00, for a total transaction of $2,689,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,320,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 34,047 shares of company stock valued at $16,843,806. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VRTX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $480.00 target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $540.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $550.00 price objective (up previously from $508.00) on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $486.36.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $464.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a current ratio of 2.52. The company has a market capitalization of $119.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $482.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $452.12. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $341.85 and a 1 year high of $510.64.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported ($12.83) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($12.54) by ($0.29). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.74% and a negative return on equity of 2.45%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

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.