Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases 100,300 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 36.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 377,100 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 100,300 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Vertex were worth $13,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VERX. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in Vertex by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 712,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,643,000 after purchasing an additional 85,237 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the first quarter worth about $673,000. Axiom Investors LLC DE acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter worth about $9,253,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at about $12,043,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its stake in Vertex by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 92,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,927,000 after purchasing an additional 18,258 shares during the last quarter. 59.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on VERX. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on Vertex from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Baird R W raised shares of Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Vertex in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Four 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.30.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of VERX stock opened at $37.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 935.25, a P/E/G ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 0.69. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.92 and a 52 week high of $40.05. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.91.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 3.20% and a return on equity of 22.32%. The company had revenue of $161.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.04 EPS. Vertex’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total value of $56,715,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,054,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,875,976.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total value of $56,715,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,054,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,875,976.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total transaction of $5,922,203.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,430,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,299,827. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,699,900 shares of company stock valued at $64,107,653 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 45.00% of the company’s stock.

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.