Axiom Investors LLC DE Lowers Stock Holdings in Vertex, Inc. $VERX

Key Points

• Axiom Investors LLC DE has significantly reduced its stake in Vertex, Inc. by 62.5%, now owning 188,640 shares after selling 314,938 shares in the first quarter.
• Despite the decrease in Axiom's holdings, Vertex's stock has seen a 1.9% increase recently, with the shares opening at $25.85.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Vertex, with Goldman Sachs projecting a target of $43.00 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" across various reports.

Axiom Investors LLC DE lowered its position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 62.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 188,640 shares of the company's stock after selling 314,938 shares during the quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE owned about 0.12% of Vertex worth $6,604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Vertex by 91.2% during the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 17,006 shares of the company's stock worth $595,000 after buying an additional 8,113 shares in the last quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,168,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the first quarter valued at approximately $8,744,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 63.0% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,429,416 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,054,000 after purchasing an additional 939,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 46.9% in the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,511,846 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,128,000 after purchasing an additional 482,669 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson lowered Vertex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Vertex in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.69.

Vertex Stock Up 2.1%

Vertex stock traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $25.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 219,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,319,753. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.45 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.18, a P/E/G ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.05.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $184.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 173,074 shares in the company, valued at $6,099,127.76. The trade was a 7.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 7,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at $303,562.75. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock valued at $130,136,108. Insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

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.