Howe & Rusling Inc. Raises Stock Position in Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $VRTX

Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) by 3.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,444 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals were worth $4,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VRTX. Advisor OS LLC increased its stake in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 543 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% in the second quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 689 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.9% in the second quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,280 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $570,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 3.3% in the second quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. now owns 786 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank raised its stake in shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,635 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $728,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.96% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VRTX opened at $421.03 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $106.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.10 and a beta of 0.36. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $362.50 and a 1 year high of $519.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $410.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $425.78.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pharmaceutical company reported $4.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.58 by $0.22. Vertex Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 23.91% and a net margin of 31.86%.The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.38 EPS. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 15.63 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $455.00 to $445.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on Vertex Pharmaceuticals from $424.00 to $411.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Vertex Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $495.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $491.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Jeffrey M. Leiden sold 53,604 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $440.72, for a total transaction of $23,624,354.88. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 24,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,588,738.72. This represents a 69.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.