Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $1.91 Million in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 35,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,909,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VERX. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at $79,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex by 7,675.0% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after buying an additional 2,456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 132 shares in the company, valued at $4,749.36. This trade represents a 99.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ryan J. Leib sold 5,755 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $218,690.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 158,398 shares of company stock worth $5,898,979. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.73.

Vertex Trading Up 4.1%

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $39.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 219.50, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.61. Vertex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.26 and a 12-month high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $177.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.99 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. Vertex’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

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.