Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Trading Down 6.1% – Here’s What Happened

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) shares traded down 6.1% on Friday . The company traded as low as $32.10 and last traded at $31.99. 281,648 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 906,744 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.06.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VERX has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Vertex Trading Down 4.7 %

The company has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 180.51, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $50.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.63.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In related news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total value of $30,480,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $418,513.95. This represents a 98.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total value of $3,041,052.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,428,435.36. This represents a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 858,457 shares of company stock worth $46,160,958. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Fairman Group LLC bought a new stake in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $327,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $3,363,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Vertex by 406.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 27,602 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in Vertex in the third quarter valued at $840,000. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new stake in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at $3,135,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

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.