Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Acquires 45,987 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 57.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 126,102 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 45,987 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. owned about 0.08% of Vertex worth $6,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Vertex by 406.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 27,602 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Vertex by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 662 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex by 344.5% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 4,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Vertex by 36.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 469,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,081,000 after acquiring an additional 124,169 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $35.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 198.39, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Vertex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.22 and a 1 year high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.90 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. On average, analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other Vertex news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the general counsel now owns 132 shares in the company, valued at $4,749.36. This trade represents a 99.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total value of $3,041,052.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,428,435.36. This represents a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on VERX. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Vertex from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.82.

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.