176,593 Shares in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Bought by AGF Management Ltd.

AGF Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 176,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,421,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in Vertex during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on VERX. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total value of $3,041,052.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,428,435.36. The trade was a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total value of $30,480,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $418,513.95. The trade was a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Trading Up 3.2 %

VERX opened at $32.15 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $60.71. The stock has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 178.61, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50 day moving average of $49.60 and a 200-day moving average of $46.72.

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

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.