Swiss National Bank Purchases 13,600 Shares of Vertex, Inc. $VERX

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Vertex, Inc. by 11.8%, acquiring an additional 13,600 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to approximately 129,300 shares valued at $4.5 million.
• Insider trades saw significant activity, including the sale of 3,000,000 shares by insider Jeffrey Westphal, decreasing his ownership by 99.74%, while other insiders sold a total of over $130 million worth of shares in the past three months.
• Vertex's stock opened at $25.73 with a market capital of $4.10 billion, following quarterly earnings that beat analysts' expectations with an EPS of $0.15.

Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 11.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 129,300 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.08% of Vertex worth $4,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Vertex by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,645 shares of the company's stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 588 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 88.1% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,024 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 948 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 52.2% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,020 shares of the company's stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 29.0% in the first quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,490 shares of the company's stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,460 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VERX. DA Davidson cut Vertex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Vertex and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.69.

Vertex Trading Up 1.9%

Vertex stock traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $25.85. 788,721 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,813,174. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.49, a PEG ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.45 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. The firm's 50 day moving average is $32.56 and its 200-day moving average is $36.93.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Vertex had a negative net margin of 7.09% and a positive return on equity of 27.16%. The business had revenue of $184.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. Vertex's revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 157,874 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.93, for a total value of $5,672,412.82. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 196,841 shares in the company, valued at $7,072,497.13. This trade represents a 44.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 value of $115,350,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly 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 sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock worth $130,136,108. 43.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.