D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Has $2.89 Million Stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 28.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,115 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,966 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Vertex were worth $2,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VERX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Vertex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of 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 issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $50.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total transaction of $1,555,343.44. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 132 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,749.36. The trade was a 99.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Destefano sold 109,415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,066,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,210,329.90. The trade was a 9.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 158,398 shares of company stock valued at $5,898,979. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Vertex Price Performance

NASDAQ:VERX traded down $1.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $37.94. The stock had a trading volume of 635,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,022,750. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a PE ratio of 210.78, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.26 and a 12 month high of $60.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $177.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $176.99 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The company's revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

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.