Insider Selling: Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Major Shareholder Sells $3,041,052.64 in Stock

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,428,435.36. This represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

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

• On Monday, December 9th, Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of Vertex stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total value of $735,764.98.
• On Wednesday, November 20th, Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 40,966 shares of Vertex stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.16, for a total value of $2,136,786.56.

Vertex Stock Up 0.8 %

Vertex stock opened at $57.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.96 billion, a PE ratio of 319.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.56. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.17 and a 12 month high of $58.35.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Vertex by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Amalgamated Bank acquired a new position in Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Vertex by 191.1% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483 shares in the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.36.

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.