Jeffrey Westphal Sells 791,133 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $23,773,546.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,554,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,716,962.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Vertex Price Performance

Vertex stock opened at $31.97 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $28.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $4.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -319.70, a P/E/G ratio of 8.22 and a beta of 0.62. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.59 and a 52 week high of $35.38.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $154.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.44 million. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 16.15% and a negative net margin of 2.29%. Equities research analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,555,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,673,000 after purchasing an additional 637,075 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in Vertex by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 4,651,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,454,000 after buying an additional 404,550 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in Vertex by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 3,632,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,661,000 after buying an additional 345,005 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex by 1,517.0% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 3,244,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,417,000 after buying an additional 3,044,193 shares during the period. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,311,000 after acquiring an additional 452,840 shares during the last quarter. 59.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VERX shares. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $31.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup decreased their price target on Vertex from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Vertex from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $23.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.78.

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.