Assetmark Inc. Acquires 31,784 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Key Points

• Assetmark Inc. significantly increased its holdings in Vertex, Inc. by 2,140.3% in Q1, now owning 33,269 shares worth approximately $1.17 million.
• Over 70% of Vertex's stock is held by institutional investors, with Vanguard Group recently raising its stake by 2% to own nearly 6.86 million shares.
• Multiple analysts have expressed positive views on Vertex, with average target price set at $49.33 and several ratings indicating a "Moderate Buy."

Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 2,140.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,269 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 31,784 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in Vertex were worth $1,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 12.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,570 shares of the company's stock worth $300,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Vertex by 30.9% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 19,584 shares of the company's stock worth $686,000 after purchasing an additional 4,625 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 109.3% in the 1st quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 73,272 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,565,000 after purchasing an additional 38,272 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 27.2% in the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 15,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the first quarter worth about $376,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VERX. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Vertex to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.33.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other Vertex news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.45, for a total transaction of $115,350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $303,562.75. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Destefano sold 109,415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total value of $4,124,945.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,066,587 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,210,329.90. This represents a 9.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,520,170 shares of company stock worth $134,479,744 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of VERX stock traded down $0.87 during trading on Friday, reaching $32.30. 1,145,947 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 941,214. Vertex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.26 and a twelve month high of $60.71. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $36.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a PE ratio of -111.38, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.70.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $177.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $176.99 million. Vertex had a negative net margin of 6.45% and a positive return on equity of 28.14%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Vertex 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.