Blue Trust Inc. Purchases New Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ellsworth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 6.6% in the second quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 16,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 992 shares during the last quarter. PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd purchased a new position in Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth about $278,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Asia Ltd. bought a new position in Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $389,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 30,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at about $239,000. 59.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of Vertex stock opened at $37.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 926.50, a P/E/G ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 0.69. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.50 and its 200 day moving average is $32.48. Vertex, Inc. has a one year low of $20.48 and a one year high of $40.05.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued 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 return on equity of 22.32% and a net margin of 3.20%. The business had revenue of $161.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.04 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VERX has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W raised shares of Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Vertex from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total transaction of $56,715,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,054,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,875,976.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 45.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.