Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) CAO Sells $121,086.57 in Stock

Key Points

• Vertex CAO Ryan Leib sold 6,963 shares for $121,086.57, reducing his direct ownership by 89.58% to 810 shares.
• Vertex beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting EPS of $0.26 and revenue of $213.28 million; revenue rose 11% year over year.
• Analyst opinion is mixed: six analysts rate the stock Buy, six Hold, and one Sell, resulting in a consensus Hold rating and an $18.79 price target.

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) CAO Ryan Leib sold 6,963 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.39, for a total transaction of $121,086.57. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,085.90. The trade was a 89.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX traded down $0.08 during trading on Thursday, reaching $17.75. 1,435,798 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,825,341. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.21 and a fifty-two week high of $20.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of -61.21 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.25.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.04. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 36.83% and a negative net margin of 5.83%. The company had revenue of $213.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $209.72 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. Vertex's quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 841.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Vertex during the third quarter worth about $68,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Vertex by 74.8% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 8,604 shares of the company's stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 3,683 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex during the third quarter worth about $128,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in Vertex during the first quarter worth about $132,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VERX has been the topic of several research reports. DA Davidson set a $16.00 target price on Vertex in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Vertex from $20.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered Vertex from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a report on Monday. Stephens decreased their price objective on Vertex from $20.00 to $18.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Vertex from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $18.79.

About Vertex

Vertex, Inc. provides tax technology and related services to businesses. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, the company develops software that helps organizations manage the complexities of transaction taxes. Its products support tax determination and calculation, compliance and reporting, tax data management, and exemption certificate management. Vertex solutions are designed to integrate with business systems such as enterprise resource planning and e-commerce platforms, helping companies automate tax processes across their operations.

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