Palisade Capital Management LP Decreases Holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Palisade Capital Management LP reduced its position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 22.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 579,945 shares of the company's stock after selling 170,658 shares during the quarter. Palisade Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.37% of Vertex worth $20,304,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VERX. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. 70.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $303,562.75. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Destefano sold 109,415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total transaction of $4,124,945.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,066,587 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,210,329.90. This trade represents a 9.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,520,170 shares of company stock worth $134,479,744. Company insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

Vertex Stock Up 2.2%

VERX traded up $0.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $35.46. 638,521 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,044,953. The business's 50 day moving average is $37.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.48. The stock has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -122.27, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.26 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VERX. Morgan Stanley cut their target price 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. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.50.

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.