Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Major Shareholder Jeffrey Westphal Sells 2,485,000 Shares

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $386,065.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Jeffrey Westphal also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, October 3rd, Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of Vertex stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $48,289,500.00.

Vertex Stock Performance

VERX opened at $50.58 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.91 and its 200 day moving average is $37.09. 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 company has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 281.00, a PEG ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.67. Vertex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.31 and a 12-month high of $52.93.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The company’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VERX. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.30.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the second quarter worth $28,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Vertex by 126.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Vertex during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank bought a new position in shares of Vertex in the second quarter worth about $68,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

About Vertex

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.