Insider Selling: Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Insider Sells 575,000 Shares of Stock

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $418,513.95. This represents a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Jeffrey Westphal also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 11th, Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of Vertex stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $121,516,500.00.
• On Thursday, October 3rd, Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of Vertex stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $48,289,500.00.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VERX traded up $0.91 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $53.30. 1,266,093 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 789,672. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Vertex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.31 and a 1-year high of $57.74. The company has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a PE ratio of 296.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.74.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The company had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. Vertex’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VERX. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in Vertex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Vertex during the second quarter worth $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Vertex by 126.2% in the 3rd 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 during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank purchased a new position in Vertex during the 2nd quarter worth $68,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VERX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.10.

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.