Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Has $505,000 Holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,463 shares of the company’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Vertex were worth $505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VERX. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in Vertex by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 933,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,932,000 after buying an additional 211,896 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Vertex by 17.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,444,000 after acquiring an additional 253,263 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Vertex during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,354,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Vertex by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,121,000 after purchasing an additional 37,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Vertex by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 582,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,424,000 after purchasing an additional 29,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on VERX. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.36.

Vertex Price Performance

Vertex stock opened at $52.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 293.94, a PEG ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.38 and a 12 month high of $57.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $53.03 and its 200-day moving average is $43.45.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 26,645 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.40, for a total value of $1,369,553.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 906,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,571,535.40. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,578,219 shares of company stock worth $179,270,309. Corporate insiders own 44.58% 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.