Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Increases Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 53.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,551 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,411 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Vertex were worth $830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VERX. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on VERX shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Vertex from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.82.

Vertex Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VERX opened at $36.16 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.40. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.22 and a 12 month high of $60.71. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a PE ratio of 200.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $176.90 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. Equities analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

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.