Squarepoint Ops LLC Sells 119,128 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Squarepoint Ops LLC reduced its position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 60.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,540 shares of the company's stock after selling 119,128 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned 0.05% of Vertex worth $4,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Vertex by 342.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,513,660 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,576 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,825,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Vertex by 233.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 851,127 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,409,000 after buying an additional 596,077 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Vertex by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,868,438 shares of the company's stock worth $153,031,000 after purchasing an additional 580,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Vertex by 1,100.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 572,245 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,530,000 after buying an additional 524,572 shares during the period. 70.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other Vertex news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total transaction of $1,555,343.44. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares in the company, valued at $4,749.36. This represents a 99.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ryan J. Leib sold 5,755 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $218,690.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 158,398 shares of company stock valued at $5,898,979. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company's stock.

Vertex Stock Up 0.9%

Vertex stock traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.86. The company had a trading volume of 110,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,019,576. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.26 and a 12 month high of $60.71. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $38.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of 221.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $177.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $176.99 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. Vertex's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on VERX. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.73.

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.