Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Major Shareholder Sells $2,136,786.56 in Stock

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 40,966 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.16, for a total transaction of $2,136,786.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,389,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,457,229.44. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 26th, Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of Vertex stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total transaction of $5,922,203.00.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of VERX traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.90. 92,238 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 785,001. Vertex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.31 and a twelve month high of $54.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 296.72, a PEG ratio of 9.61 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.83.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.70 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VERX. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 551.9% during the 2nd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 949,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,231,000 after purchasing an additional 803,881 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the second quarter worth $22,173,000. Brown Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $20,938,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its holdings in Vertex by 787.0% in the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 524,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,280,000 after acquiring an additional 465,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 414,945 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VERX. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.30.

About Vertex

Vertex, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides enterprise tax technology solutions for retail trade, wholesale trade, and manufacturing industries in the United States and internationally. The company offers tax determination; compliance and reporting, including workflow management tools, role-based security, and event logging; tax data management; document management; analytics and insights; pre-built integration that includes mapping data fields, and business logic and configurations; industry-specific solutions; and technology specific solutions, such as chain flow accelerator and SAP-specific tools.