Pier Capital LLC Sells 75,463 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Pier Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 32.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 155,927 shares of the company’s stock after selling 75,463 shares during the quarter. Pier Capital LLC’s holdings in Vertex were worth $8,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VERX. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Vertex during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth $79,000. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX opened at $35.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 196.39, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. 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 12 month low of $27.22 and a 12 month high of $60.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.52.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on VERX shares. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total value of $1,555,343.44. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares in the company, valued at $4,749.36. This trade represents a 99.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

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.