Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 75 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRTX. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 7,876.3% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 1,546,370 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $719,186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,983 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,550,386 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,581,373,000 after buying an additional 851,054 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,798,870 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,231,858,000 after acquiring an additional 704,421 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 169.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 839,672 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $338,136,000 after acquiring an additional 528,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 74,015.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 324,626 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,977,000 after acquiring an additional 324,188 shares during the period. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VRTX shares. StockNews.com lowered Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $503.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $562.00 to $586.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $502.58.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of VRTX stock opened at $482.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $434.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $462.62. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $377.85 and a twelve month high of $519.88.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.77. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 4.52% and a negative return on equity of 1.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.93 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.