Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC Purchases New Stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter worth $79,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $35.54 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 197.44, a PEG 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 price is $45.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.52. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $60.71.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup upped their price target on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total value of $1,555,343.44. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares in the company, valued at $4,749.36. This trade represents a 99.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total value of $3,041,052.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,428,435.36. This trade represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vertex 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.