Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 118,589 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 71.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,673 shares of the company’s stock after selling 118,589 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Vertex were worth $1,836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Vertex by 406.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 27,602 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex in the second quarter valued at $22,173,000. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in Vertex in the third quarter worth $840,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Vertex by 5.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 432,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,639,000 after purchasing an additional 23,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Vertex by 10.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 248,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,940,000 after purchasing an additional 22,514 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $121,516,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,065.50. This trade represents a 99.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John Richard Stamm sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,938.35. The trade was a 13.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,782,563 shares of company stock worth $187,627,746. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of VERX stock opened at $51.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 285.11, a P/E/G ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.49. Vertex, Inc. has a one year low of $23.31 and a one year high of $57.74. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.70 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.36.

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.