Geneva Capital Management LLC Raises Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Key Points

• Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Vertex, Inc. by 42.1% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 605,617 shares, now holding a total of 2,043,205 shares.
• Vertex reported $0.15 earnings per share for the recent quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.13 and showing a 12.9% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of Vertex at an average price of $38.45, resulting in a 99.74% decrease in his ownership of the stock.

Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 42.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,043,205 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 605,617 shares during the quarter. Vertex accounts for 1.3% of Geneva Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Geneva Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.29% of Vertex worth $71,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth $595,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,967,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 41.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 9,830 shares of the company's stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 2,868 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Vertex by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 60,571 shares of the company's stock worth $3,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in Vertex by 61.8% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 34,380 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,834,000 after purchasing an additional 13,135 shares in the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertex Trading Up 1.8%

NASDAQ VERX traded up $0.50 on Thursday, reaching $27.60. 3,010,202 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,309,735. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The business's fifty day moving average price is $35.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -94.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.70. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.11 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 28.14% and a negative net margin of 6.45%. The firm had revenue of $184.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.60 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.15 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VERX shares. JMP Securities set a $50.00 target price on shares of Vertex and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Vertex from $38.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Vertex to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.92.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other Vertex news, CAO Ryan J. Leib sold 5,755 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total transaction of $218,690.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.93, for a total transaction of $5,672,412.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 196,841 shares in the company, valued at $7,072,497.13. This represents a 44.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,520,170 shares of company stock worth $134,479,744. Company insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

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.