Osterweis Capital Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Vertex, Inc. $VERX

Key Points

• Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired 249,760 shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ: VERX), valued at approximately $8.74 million, increasing its ownership to about 0.16% of the company.
• Several large investors, including Wells Fargo and Raymond James, have also significantly increased their positions in Vertex, indicating strong institutional interest as 70.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Vertex, with ratings ranging from "Strong Buy" to "Market Perform" and an average price target of $43.69, reflecting potential growth in the coming year.

Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 249,760 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,744,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Vertex at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex by 30.3% during the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,947,740 shares of the company's stock worth $103,200,000 after buying an additional 686,145 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 63.0% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 42.1% in the first quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 2,043,205 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,533,000 after purchasing an additional 605,617 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 46.9% in the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,511,846 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,128,000 after purchasing an additional 482,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,337,758 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,369,000 after purchasing an additional 108,314 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 157,874 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.93, for a total value of $5,672,412.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 196,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,072,497.13. This represents a 44.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 7,895 shares in the company, 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 90 days, insiders sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock valued at $130,136,108. Corporate insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

Vertex Stock Up 1.9%

VERX stock traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $25.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 788,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,813,174. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $32.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.45 and a 12 month high of $60.71. The company has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a PE ratio of -78.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on VERX shares. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. DA Davidson lowered shares of Vertex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $43.00 price target on shares of Vertex and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $50.00 price target on shares of Vertex and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vertex has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.69.

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.