Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 13,827 Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 396,532 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 13,827 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $159,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VRTX. Edgewood Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 7,876.3% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 1,546,370 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $719,186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,983 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $435,899,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 18.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,550,386 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,581,373,000 after acquiring an additional 851,054 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,798,870 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,231,858,000 after acquiring an additional 704,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 169.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 839,672 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $338,136,000 after acquiring an additional 528,029 shares during the last quarter. 90.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ VRTX opened at $459.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $435.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $460.99. The stock has a market cap of $118.21 billion, a PE ratio of -230.65, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.41. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $377.85 and a fifty-two week high of $519.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.47.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The pharmaceutical company reported $3.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.99 by ($0.45). Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 1.91% and a negative net margin of 4.52%. On average, equities analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Ourania Tatsis sold 310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.83, for a total value of $142,547.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 64,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,438,776.43. The trade was a 0.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRTX has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $545.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $402.00 to $407.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $435.00 to $467.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $505.57.

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.