Insider Selling: Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) CEO Sells 159,107 Shares of Stock

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) CEO David Destefano sold 159,107 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $7,893,298.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 332,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,484,906.90. This represents a 32.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

David Destefano also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 18th, David Destefano sold 22,275 shares of Vertex stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.55, for a total value of $1,103,726.25.

Vertex Stock Up 0.6 %

Vertex stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $49.38. The stock had a trading volume of 635,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 787,738. The company has a market cap of $7.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 274.33, a PEG ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.43. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.31 and a 52 week high of $52.93. 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 (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. Vertex’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.06 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 126.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the second quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the second quarter valued at $68,000. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VERX. JMP Securities increased their price target on Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.30.

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.