Quantessence Capital LLC Makes New $645,000 Investment in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Quantessence Capital LLC purchased a new position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,091 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $645,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total value of $1,555,343.44. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,749.36. The trade was a 99.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 44.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on VERX. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Raymond James reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Vertex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price target on Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.73.

Vertex Trading Up 0.5 %

VERX traded up $0.20 on Friday, hitting $39.74. The company had a trading volume of 782,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,004,016. The company's fifty day moving average price is $36.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.33. Vertex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.04 and a 1 year high of $60.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 220.78, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80.

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

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.