Axiom Investors LLC DE Acquires 28,568 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 503,578 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,568 shares during the period. Axiom Investors LLC DE’s holdings in Vertex were worth $26,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Vertex by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Vertex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total transaction of $1,555,343.44. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,749.36. This represents a 99.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a report on Thursday, March 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, February 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vertex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.82.

Vertex Price Performance

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $35.55 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.52. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $60.71. The stock has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 197.50, 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.

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

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.