Bank of Montreal Can Grows Stock Holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 9.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 557,217 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,789 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.22% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals worth $257,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VRTX. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 33.0% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 399 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $167,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,225,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,474,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 9,443 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,947,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 36.5% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,082 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,036 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.4 %

VRTX opened at $461.71 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.90 billion, a PE ratio of -232.02 and a beta of 0.39. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $346.29 and a one year 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $473.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $474.04.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.38 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 analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 1.91% and a negative net margin of 4.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.67 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post -1.83 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VRTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $575.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $437.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $472.00 to $509.00 in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $504.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 3,784 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 9,994 shares in the company, valued at $4,987,006. This trade represents a 27.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sangeeta N. Bhatia sold 646 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,435 shares in the company, valued at $2,217,500. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,445 shares of company stock valued at $2,218,394 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.