Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Key Points

• Vertex (VERX) reported earnings of $0.15 per share, surpassing expectations of $0.14 by $0.01, while revenue increased by 14.6% year-over-year to $184.56 million.
• Despite the positive earnings results, Vertex's share price fell by 6.6%, closing at $25.67, significantly below its 52-week high of $60.71.
• Insider transactions included the sale of 3,000,000 shares by Jeffrey Westphal, resulting in a 99.74% decrease in his ownership position.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. Vertex had a negative net margin of 7.09% and a positive return on equity of 27.16%. The company had revenue of $184.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.60 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. Vertex's revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Vertex Stock Down 6.6%

Shares of VERX traded down $1.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $25.67. The company had a trading volume of 3,059,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,524,437. The stock has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -77.79, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.70. The company's 50 day moving average price is $35.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. Vertex has a 52 week low of $25.11 and a 52 week high of $60.71.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other Vertex news, CAO Ryan J. Leib sold 5,755 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total transaction of $218,690.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.45, for a total transaction of $115,350,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 7,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $303,562.75. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,520,170 shares of company stock valued at $134,479,744 over the last ninety days. 43.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Vertex by 36.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 180,978 shares of the company's stock worth $6,336,000 after buying an additional 48,181 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 81,935 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,869,000 after purchasing an additional 3,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 25.7% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,933 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VERX has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities set a $50.00 price target on shares of Vertex and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.69.

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.

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