Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 546,006 shares of the company's stock after selling 26,239 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.35% of Vertex worth $19,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at about $339,000. PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd boosted its holdings in Vertex by 97.9% in the 1st quarter. PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd now owns 9,100 shares of the company's stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 4,502 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $8,924,000. Westwind Capital increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 79.0% during the 1st quarter. Westwind Capital now owns 334,502 shares of the company's stock worth $11,711,000 after buying an additional 147,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted 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 valued at $283,000 after acquiring an additional 7,877 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Vertex Stock Up 5.0%

VERX stock traded up $1.73 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $36.21. The company had a trading volume of 2,711,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,057,948. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.26 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. The company has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -124.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.78.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a negative net margin of 6.45% and a positive return on equity of 28.14%. The firm had revenue of $177.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 14,425 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.24, for a total value of $508,337.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 173,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,099,127.76. This represents a 7.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,520,170 shares of company stock worth $134,479,744 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VERX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. 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 report on Wednesday, April 16th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, June 16th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Four 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.50.

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.