Herald Investment Management Ltd Trims Stock Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Key Points

• Herald Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in Vertex, Inc. by 8.3% during the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to 110,000 shares valued at approximately $3.85 million.
• Several large investors, including Neuberger Berman Group and FMR LLC, have increased their stakes in Vertex, indicating strong institutional interest in the stock.
• Vertex reported a quarterly earnings increase with an EPS of $0.15, surpassing estimates, and the company has shown a 14.6% year-over-year revenue growth.

Herald Investment Management Ltd trimmed its holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 8.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 110,000 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,000 shares during the period. Herald Investment Management Ltd owned about 0.07% of Vertex worth $3,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 88.1% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,024 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 948 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Vertex in the first quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the first quarter valued at approximately $133,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VERX has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson lowered shares of Vertex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.69.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VERX traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $25.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,299,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,332,810. Vertex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.45 and a 1-year high of $60.71. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $35.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -76.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the insider owned 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $303,562.75. The trade was a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 14,425 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.24, for a total value of $508,337.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 173,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,099,127.76. This represents a 7.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,405,000 shares of company stock valued at $130,136,108 in the last three months. 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.