Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Buys 373,090 Shares of Vertex, Inc. $VERX

Key Points

• Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Vertex, Inc. by 32.2%, now owning approximately 1.53 million shares valued at $53.6 million.
• Vertex recently received mixed analyst ratings, with one strong buy, eight buy ratings, and five hold ratings, alongside an average target price of $43.69.
• Insider trading activity has been notable, with over 3.4 million shares sold in the last 90 days, reflecting a significant decrease in ownership stakes by key insiders.

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 32.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,531,939 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 373,090 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned about 0.97% of Vertex worth $53,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 54,115 shares of the company's stock worth $2,887,000 after purchasing an additional 11,966 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 3,751.0% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,087 shares of the company's stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 7,877 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 25.4% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 224,762 shares of the company's stock worth $7,869,000 after purchasing an additional 45,494 shares in the last quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI bought a new stake in Vertex in the first quarter worth $8,203,000. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex by 42.1% in the first quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 2,043,205 shares of the company's stock worth $71,533,000 after purchasing an additional 605,617 shares in the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VERX. JMP Securities set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Vertex and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target 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. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, June 16th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson cut shares of Vertex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.69.

Vertex Price Performance

NASDAQ:VERX traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,260,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,881,321. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.45 and a fifty-two 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 company has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -78.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.52 and a 200-day moving average of $35.76.

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

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 14,425 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider owned 173,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,099,127.76. This trade represents a 7.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 sale, the insider directly owned 7,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $303,562.75. The trade was a 99.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock valued at $130,136,108. 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.