Arizona State Retirement System Boosts Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,062 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Vertex were worth $910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sigma Planning Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the third quarter valued at $365,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 406.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 27,602 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 46.1% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the third quarter valued at $194,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 344.5% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 4,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on VERX shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup increased their target price on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.00.

Vertex Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX opened at $32.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 182.67, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. Vertex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.22 and a 1 year high of $60.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.90 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. Equities analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at $69,428,435.36. This trade represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.