Triasima Portfolio Management inc. Makes New Investment in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 58,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,135,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in Vertex by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,287,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,102,000 after purchasing an additional 54,985 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Vertex by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,444,000 after purchasing an additional 253,263 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its position in Vertex by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 414,945 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Vertex by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,361,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,447,000 after purchasing an additional 363,595 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Vertex by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,121,000 after purchasing an additional 37,592 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Vertex stock opened at $57.91 on Friday. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.17 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. The firm has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a PE ratio of 321.72, a P/E/G ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s fifty day moving average is $54.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.79. 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 (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, November 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David Destefano sold 216,268 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.04, for a total value of $11,903,390.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 293,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,145,708.80. This trade represents a 42.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $121,516,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $386,065.50. This trade represents a 99.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,605,417 shares of company stock valued at $180,941,809 in the last quarter. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.