Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Raises Stock Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 824.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 345,257 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 307,892 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS owned 0.23% of Vertex worth $9,301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Vertex by 5.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,918,733 shares of the company's stock valued at $113,623,000 after acquiring an additional 264,884 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Vertex by 9.5% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 4,651,701 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,454,000 after acquiring an additional 404,550 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in Vertex by 10.5% in the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 3,632,850 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,661,000 after acquiring an additional 345,005 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Vertex by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $76,311,000 after acquiring an additional 452,840 shares during the period. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Vertex by 0.3% in the third quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 2,596,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,968,000 after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares during the period. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VERX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded Vertex from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Vertex from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Vertex from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $35.78.

Vertex Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:VERX traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $28.61. 349,516 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 422,564. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $29.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.59 and a fifty-two week high of $35.38. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -286.10, a PEG ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 0.62.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Vertex had a negative net margin of 2.29% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. The business had revenue of $154.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $146.44 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 6,500 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,930 shares in the company, valued at $469,616.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,554,641 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,716,962.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John Richard Stamm sold 6,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $191,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,930 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $469,616.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,161,048 shares of company stock worth $35,034,678. Corporate insiders own 45.00% of the company's stock.

About Vertex

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.