JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,791,929 shares of the company’s stock after selling 215,215 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 1.15% of Vertex worth $69,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in 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. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Amalgamated Bank bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $68,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Vertex by 191.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other Vertex news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.81, for a total value of $134,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,938.35. The trade was a 13.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $30,480,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $418,513.95. The trade was a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,782,563 shares of company stock valued at $187,627,746. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vertex Trading Down 3.5 %

NASDAQ VERX opened at $51.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of 285.11, a PEG ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.31 and a 12 month high of $57.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The business had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on VERX. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.36.

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.