Eventide Asset Management LLC Invests $489,000 in Vertex, Inc. $VERX

Key Points

• Eventide Asset Management LLC invested approximately $489,000 in Vertex, Inc. by acquiring 13,958 shares in the first quarter.
• Vertex reported $0.15 earnings per share for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with quarterly revenue up 14.6% year-over-year.
• Insider activity has been significant, with insiders selling a total of 3,405,000 shares worth over $130 million in the last quarter.

Eventide Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 13,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $489,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VERX. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Vertex by 63.0% during the 1st 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. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at $27,399,000. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,947,740 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,200,000 after purchasing an additional 686,145 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 42.1% during the first quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 2,043,205 shares of the company's stock worth $71,533,000 after buying an additional 605,617 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 46.9% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,511,846 shares of the company's stock worth $52,128,000 after buying an additional 482,669 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VERX shares. DA Davidson downgraded Vertex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Vertex in a report on Monday, June 16th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $43.00 target price on Vertex and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a 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, JMP Securities set a $50.00 target price on Vertex and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 157,874 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.93, for a total value of $5,672,412.82. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 196,841 shares in the company, valued at $7,072,497.13. This trade represents a 44.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock worth $130,136,108 over the last ninety days. 43.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vertex Price Performance

Vertex stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $24.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,848,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,383,870. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.13 and a 52 week high of $60.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $30.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.93. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of -72.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 0.68.

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

Vertex Company 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.