EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Takes $1.90 Million Position in Vertex, Inc. $VERX

Key Points

• EFG Asset Management North America Corp. purchased 54,133 shares of Vertex, Inc. for about $1.895 million, marking a significant new investment in the company.
• Vertex recently reported earnings of $0.15 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, with a 14.6% increase in quarterly revenue compared to last year.
• Insider transactions have seen a large sell-off, with significant share sales impacting ownership percentages, including a 99.74% decrease in one insider's holdings.

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 54,133 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,895,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 25.7% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,933 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 88.1% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,024 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 948 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the first quarter worth $97,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex by 7,675.0% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company's stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456 shares during the period. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VERX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson lowered Vertex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Bank of America decreased their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Citigroup upgraded Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.69.

Vertex Stock Performance

NASDAQ VERX traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $24.04. 1,848,408 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,383,870. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.13 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -72.85, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $30.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 27.16% and a negative net margin of 7.09%.The business had revenue of $184.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $184.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.45, for a total value of $115,350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 7,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $303,562.75. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 14,425 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.24, for a total transaction of $508,337.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 173,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,099,127.76. This represents a 7.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock valued at $130,136,108 over the last 90 days. 43.25% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.