Grandfield & Dodd LLC Acquires 2,538 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 21.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,144 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 2,538 shares during the quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $6,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Portfolio Design Labs LLC grew its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 123.0% during the 3rd quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 4,579 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,526 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 14.5% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,467 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,309,000 after buying an additional 3,359 shares in the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% during the third quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 9,092 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,229,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,550,386 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,581,373,000 after acquiring an additional 851,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 7,443 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,462,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of VRTX opened at $448.01 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $346.29 and a 52-week high of $519.88. The company has a market cap of $115.38 billion, a PE ratio of -225.13 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $475.85 and a 200 day moving average of $472.89.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.77. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.52% and a negative return on equity of 1.91%. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 3,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $499.00, for a total transaction of $1,888,216.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 9,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,987,006. This represents a 27.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 646 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $500.00, for a total value of $323,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,217,500. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,445 shares of company stock worth $2,218,394 in the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim increased their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $558.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $541.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $540.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $480.00 to $486.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $473.00 to $476.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $499.12.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Company 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.