Banque Pictet & Cie SA Acquires 389,907 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA boosted its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 63.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,003,470 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 389,907 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA owned about 0.63% of Vertex worth $35,131,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in Vertex during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at about $79,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex by 7,675.0% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 2,456 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX traded down $0.56 during trading on Thursday, hitting $35.84. 905,729 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,047,855. Vertex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.26 and a 52-week high of $60.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.53 and a 200 day moving average of $42.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a PE ratio of -123.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 0.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a negative net margin of 6.45% and a positive return on equity of 28.14%. The firm had revenue of $177.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VERX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Vertex in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other Vertex news, CEO David Destefano sold 109,415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total value of $4,124,945.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,066,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,210,329.90. The trade was a 9.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 14,425 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.24, for a total transaction of $508,337.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 173,074 shares in the company, valued at $6,099,127.76. The trade was a 7.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,520,170 shares of company stock worth $134,479,744 over the last 90 days. Company 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.