Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Buys New Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,158,849 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,825,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned 0.74% of Vertex as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VERX. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,516 shares of the company's stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 15,099 shares of the company's stock worth $806,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,678 shares of the company's stock worth $303,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,668 shares of the company's stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the period. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Vertex by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 17,291 shares of the company's stock valued at $922,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Vertex Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:VERX traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 782,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,001,650. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 220.78, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $36.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.29. Vertex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.04 and a twelve month high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.90 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. On average, equities analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other Vertex news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares in the company, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VERX has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Vertex in a research report on Tuesday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Vertex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $50.73.

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.