JPMorgan Chase & Co. Decreases Stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 10.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,791,929 shares of the company’s stock after selling 215,215 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Vertex were worth $69,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 29.4% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 933,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,932,000 after purchasing an additional 211,896 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 buying an additional 253,263 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,354,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,121,000 after acquiring an additional 37,592 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 5.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 582,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,424,000 after purchasing an additional 29,700 shares during the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 52,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.02, for a total value of $2,162,287.26. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,144,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,967,612.86. This trade represents a 4.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,065.50. The trade was a 99.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,782,563 shares of company stock valued at $187,627,746. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VERX has been the subject of several analyst reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, DA Davidson assumed coverage on Vertex in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Four investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.36.

Vertex Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of VERX stock opened at $51.32 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $51.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.49. The firm has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of 285.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. Vertex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.31 and a 1-year high of $57.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS 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.