Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Shares Purchased by Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,832,620 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 452,840 shares during the quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 1.85% of Vertex worth $76,311,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VERX. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc purchased a new position in Vertex in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in Vertex by 124.1% in the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,024 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,121 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Vertex in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on VERX shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $31.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Vertex from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Vertex from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $23.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $35.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $23,773,546.65. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,554,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,716,962.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 6,500 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $191,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,616.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $23,773,546.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,554,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,716,962.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,161,048 shares of company stock worth $35,034,678. 45.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vertex Price Performance

NASDAQ:VERX traded down $0.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $31.97. The stock had a trading volume of 317,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 542,449. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Vertex, Inc. has a one year low of $17.59 and a one year high of $35.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -319.70, a P/E/G ratio of 8.22 and a beta of 0.62.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $154.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.44 million. Vertex had a negative net margin of 2.29% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. Research analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.