Northern Trust Corp Reduces Stock Position in Vertex, Inc. $VERX

Northern Trust Corp reduced its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 0.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 558,231 shares of the company’s stock after selling 656 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.35% of Vertex worth $19,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new position in Vertex in the first quarter worth about $27,399,000. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Vertex by 30.3% in the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,947,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,200,000 after buying an additional 686,145 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Vertex by 42.1% in the first quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 2,043,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,533,000 after buying an additional 605,617 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its stake in Vertex by 46.9% in the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,511,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,128,000 after buying an additional 482,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA raised its stake in Vertex by 63.5% in the first quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 1,003,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,131,000 after buying an additional 389,907 shares in the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VERX. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JMP Securities set a $50.00 target price on shares of Vertex and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. DA Davidson cut shares of Vertex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $43.00 price target on shares of Vertex and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider owned 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $303,562.75. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 157,874 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.93, for a total transaction of $5,672,412.82. Following the transaction, the insider owned 196,841 shares in the company, valued at $7,072,497.13. This represents a 44.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,405,000 shares of company stock worth $130,136,108 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 43.25% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of VERX stock opened at $25.82 on Tuesday. Vertex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.45 and a 12-month high of $60.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $31.33 and its 200 day moving average is $35.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.68.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Vertex Company 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.