XTX Topco Ltd Acquires Shares of 15,761 Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 15,761 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $552,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VERX. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Vertex by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 54,115 shares of the company's stock worth $2,887,000 after acquiring an additional 11,966 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 3,751.0% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,087 shares of the company's stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 7,877 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Vertex by 25.4% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 224,762 shares of the company's stock worth $7,869,000 after purchasing an additional 45,494 shares during the period. Norris Perne & French LLP MI bought a new stake in Vertex in the first quarter worth approximately $8,203,000. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Vertex by 85.3% in the first quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 45,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,593,000 after buying an additional 20,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David Destefano sold 109,415 shares of the company'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 value of $4,124,945.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,066,587 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,210,329.90. This represents a 9.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 owned 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 3,520,170 shares of company stock valued at $134,479,744 in the last three months. 43.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Vertex and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Vertex from $50.00 to $43.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.69.

Vertex Stock Down 6.6%

VERX traded down $1.82 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $25.67. 3,059,777 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,329,567. The company has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -77.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.70. Vertex, Inc. has a one year low of $25.11 and a one year high of $60.71. The company's fifty day moving average price is $35.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 28.28% and a negative net margin of 7.09%. The business had revenue of $184.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $184.60 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.15 EPS. The business's revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS 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.