Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Major Shareholder Sells $121,516,500.00 in Stock

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $121,516,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,065.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

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

• On Thursday, October 3rd, Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of Vertex stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $48,289,500.00.

Vertex Stock Up 1.7 %

VERX stock traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $50.58. 1,107,020 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 786,597. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.09. Vertex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.31 and a 1-year high of $52.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 281.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.67.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. Vertex’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank acquired a new stake in Vertex during the 2nd quarter worth $68,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VERX. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.30.

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.