Westover Capital Advisors LLC Has $2.96 Million Stock Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Westover Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,427 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 632 shares during the period. Westover Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vertex were worth $2,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Vertex by 126.2% during 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. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Vertex during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Vertex during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Vertex during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in Vertex by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on VERX shares. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Five equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $30,480,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $418,513.95. This trade represents a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,344,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,136,288.02. This represents a 0.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 858,457 shares of company stock worth $46,160,958. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of VERX stock opened at $32.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 178.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $52.09 and a 200-day moving average of $46.87. Vertex, Inc. has a one year low of $27.22 and a one year high of $60.71.

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

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.