New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 159,496 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 34.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 615,930 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 159,496 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.39% of Vertex worth $21,564,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex by 7,675.0% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex by 1,719.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,076 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,000 after acquiring an additional 4,797 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Vertex Stock Performance

VERX stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $35.14. The stock had a trading volume of 352,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,054,887. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -121.22, a P/E/G ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.71. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.26 and a 52 week high of $60.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler began coverage on Vertex in a report on Monday, June 16th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on Vertex from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas began coverage on Vertex in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 14,425 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 173,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,099,127.76. This trade represents a 7.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.45, for a total value of $115,350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 7,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $303,562.75. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,520,170 shares of company stock valued at $134,479,744. 43.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Vertex

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.