Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Cuts Holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich reduced its position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 30.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,567 shares of the company's stock after selling 65,535 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned 0.09% of Vertex worth $5,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 54,115 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,887,000 after acquiring an additional 11,966 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 3,751.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,087 shares of the company's stock valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 7,877 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 224,762 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,869,000 after acquiring an additional 45,494 shares during the period. Norris Perne & French LLP MI purchased a new stake in Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at about $8,203,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 86,284 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,603,000 after acquiring an additional 7,430 shares during the period. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertex Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX traded down $0.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.21. The stock had a trading volume of 865,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,262,623. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.26 and a 12 month high of $60.71. The company has a market capitalization of $5.42 billion, a PE ratio of -117.96, a PEG ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.71. The firm's fifty day moving average is $36.94 and its 200 day moving average is $40.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.45, for a total transaction of $115,350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at $303,562.75. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ryan J. Leib sold 5,755 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $218,690.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,520,170 shares of company stock worth $134,479,744 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.