Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Short Interest Update

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) was the target of a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,298,200 shares, a growth of 31.8% from the May 31st total of 3,260,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 886,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VERX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.93, for a total transaction of $49,395,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,554,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,124,328.13. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 45.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Vertex during the first quarter worth $239,000. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in Vertex by 12.1% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 230,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,332,000 after purchasing an additional 24,851 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Vertex by 6.3% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 46,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Vertex during the first quarter worth $321,000. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex by 13.6% during the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 712,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,643,000 after purchasing an additional 85,237 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Vertex stock traded up $0.26 on Friday, hitting $36.05. The company had a trading volume of 8,767,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,029,271. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 901.25, a P/E/G ratio of 18.35 and a beta of 0.68. Vertex has a twelve month low of $17.59 and a twelve month high of $36.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.59 and a 200-day moving average of $29.37.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $156.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $155.50 million. Vertex had a net margin of 1.29% and a return on equity of 18.67%. Research analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.19 earnings per share for the current 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.