Insider Selling: Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) CEO Sells $11,903,390.72 in Stock

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) CEO David Destefano sold 216,268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.04, for a total transaction of $11,903,390.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 293,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,145,708.80. The trade was a 42.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

David Destefano also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, November 26th, David Destefano sold 25,607 shares of Vertex stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.05, for a total transaction of $1,409,665.35.
• On Monday, November 18th, David Destefano sold 22,275 shares of Vertex stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.55, for a total value of $1,103,726.25.
• On Thursday, November 14th, David Destefano sold 159,107 shares of Vertex stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $7,893,298.27.

Vertex Stock Down 4.4 %

VERX opened at $52.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 291.06, a PEG ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $48.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.54. Vertex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.31 and a twelve month high of $57.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Vertex during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Vertex by 126.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Vertex in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter worth $68,000. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.