Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 524,572 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 1,100.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 572,245 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 524,572 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Vertex were worth $30,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management increased its holdings in Vertex by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 15,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,000 after buying an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Vertex by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Vertex by 126.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Vertex by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VERX shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted 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, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, November 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total transaction of $735,764.98. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,344,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,136,288.02. This trade represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $418,513.95. This trade represents a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 887,084 shares of company stock valued at $47,736,965 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Stock Down 2.7 %

VERX stock opened at $44.21 on Friday. Vertex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.47 and a twelve month high of $60.71. 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 stock has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 245.61, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $53.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.67.

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.