Insider Selling: Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Major Shareholder Sells 53,843 Shares of Stock

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at $69,428,435.36. The trade was a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Large shareholders that own more than 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 transaction 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 transaction of $2,136,786.56.

Vertex Price Performance

VERX stock traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $57.00. The company had a trading volume of 606,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 896,399. The company has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 316.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $53.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.26. Vertex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.17 and a 1-year high of $58.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The business had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VERX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.36.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Amalgamated Bank purchased a new position in Vertex during the second quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Vertex by 191.1% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 1,483 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Company Profile

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.