Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Has $962,000 Stock Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Key Points

• Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH reduced its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 75.6% during Q1, leaving them with 27,472 shares valued at approximately $962,000.
• Recent analyst reports show a mix of ratings and price targets for Vertex, with a consensus price target of $49.33 and a majority of analysts giving it a "Moderate Buy" rating.
• Insider transactions reveal that a significant amount of shares have been sold recently, including 14,425 shares sold by an insider, indicating changes in ownership dynamics within the company.

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lessened its position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 75.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,472 shares of the company's stock after selling 85,331 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH's holdings in Vertex were worth $962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Vertex during the 4th quarter worth $595,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Vertex by 23.8% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,877 shares of the company's stock worth $1,967,000 after purchasing an additional 7,089 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in Vertex by 41.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 9,830 shares of the company's stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,868 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Vertex by 707.5% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 446,951 shares of the company's stock worth $23,845,000 after purchasing an additional 391,601 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Vertex by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 60,571 shares of the company's stock worth $3,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,445 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VERX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Vertex to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, June 16th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.33.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $32.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,145,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 998,511. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $36.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -111.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.70. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 28.14% and a negative net margin of 6.45%. The company had revenue of $177.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.15 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In related news, CEO David Destefano sold 109,415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,066,587 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,210,329.90. The trade was a 9.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ryan J. Leib sold 5,755 shares of the business'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 have sold 3,520,170 shares of company stock worth $134,479,744. 43.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.