Vertex, Inc. $VERX Shares Sold by Pembroke Management LTD

Key Points

• Pembroke Management LTD reduced its stake in Vertex, Inc. by 7.6% during the first quarter, now holding approximately 0.43% of the company with a market value of about $23.6 million.
• Insider Jeffrey Westphal significantly decreased his ownership by selling 3 million shares at an average price of $38.45, resulting in a total transaction of over $115 million.
• Brokerages have mixed ratings for Vertex, with DA Davidson downgrading it to a "hold" while Citigroup upgraded it to a "strong-buy," resulting in a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $43.69.

Pembroke Management LTD trimmed its holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 673,992 shares of the company's stock after selling 55,369 shares during the period. Vertex comprises about 3.5% of Pembroke Management LTD's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Pembroke Management LTD owned about 0.43% of Vertex worth $23,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in Vertex in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in 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 period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Vertex by 7,675.0% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Vertex in the first quarter valued at about $97,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Vertex by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,734 shares of the company's stock valued at $199,000 after acquiring an additional 1,604 shares during the period. 70.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $303,562.75. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 14,425 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.24, for a total value of $508,337.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 173,074 shares in the company, valued at $6,099,127.76. The trade was a 7.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock worth $130,136,108 in the last quarter. 43.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VERX. DA Davidson lowered Vertex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup upgraded Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $43.00 price target on Vertex and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Bank of America cut their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $50.00 price target on Vertex and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold 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 $43.69.

Vertex Stock Performance

VERX opened at $25.34 on Friday. Vertex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.45 and a 52-week high of $60.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of -76.79, a PEG ratio of 5.24 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. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $31.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.05.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 27.16% and a negative net margin of 7.09%.The business had revenue of $184.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. Vertex's revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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