Y.D. More Investments Ltd Takes $1.44 Million Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Key Points

• Y.D. More Investments Ltd has acquired a new stake in Vertex, Inc., purchasing 41,000 shares valued at approximately $1.44 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their positions in Vertex, with Invesco Ltd. growing its stake by 342.5% in the last quarter.
• Insider sales have been notable, including Jeffrey Westphal selling 3 million shares for over $115 million, resulting in a 99.74% decrease in his position.

Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 41,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,435,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Vertex by 342.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,513,660 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,576 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $61,825,000. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new stake in Vertex in the first quarter valued at $27,399,000. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Vertex by 30.3% in the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,947,740 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,200,000 after acquiring an additional 686,145 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Vertex by 42.1% during the first quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 2,043,205 shares of the company's stock worth $71,533,000 after acquiring an additional 605,617 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut 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. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Vertex from $38.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $45.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $303,562.75. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David Destefano sold 109,415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total transaction of $4,124,945.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,066,587 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,210,329.90. This represents a 9.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,520,170 shares of company stock worth $134,479,744. Company insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

Vertex Trading Down 18.1%

VERX opened at $27.10 on Thursday. 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 cap of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -93.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.55. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.11 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $184.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.60 million. Vertex had a negative net margin of 6.45% and a positive return on equity of 28.14%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.15 EPS. On average, sell-side 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.

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