Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock Position Decreased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 71.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing 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 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $166,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Vertex by 4.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,791,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,929,000 after purchasing an additional 235,407 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of Vertex by 24.7% in the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 92,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,927,000 after purchasing an additional 18,258 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the first quarter worth $192,000. Finally, Sandia Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 1st quarter worth $159,000. Institutional investors own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VERX opened at $53.83 on Friday. Vertex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.31 and a 1 year high of $54.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $42.74 and its 200-day moving average is $37.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a PE ratio of 299.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.61 and a beta of 0.67.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $170.40 million for 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 40,966 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.16, for a total transaction of $2,136,786.56. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,389,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,457,229.44. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Destefano sold 159,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $7,893,298.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 332,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,484,906.90. The trade was a 32.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,330,722 shares of company stock worth $197,009,011 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VERX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities raised their target price on Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.30.

Vertex 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.