Plato Investment Management Ltd Invests $41,000 in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the third quarter worth approximately $20,938,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 1,100.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 572,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,530,000 after purchasing an additional 524,572 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 787.0% during the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 524,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,280,000 after purchasing an additional 465,610 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 74.9% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,029,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,035,000 after purchasing an additional 440,832 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 40.1% during the third 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. 70.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total value of $30,480,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $418,513.95. The trade was a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at $69,428,435.36. This trade represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 858,457 shares of company stock valued at $46,160,958. 44.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Vertex Trading Up 2.6 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $33.04 on Thursday. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.22 and a 12 month high of $60.71. The firm has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 183.56, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. 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’s 50 day moving average is $51.25 and its 200-day moving average is $46.81.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.03). Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.90 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on VERX shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.00.

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.