Sigma Planning Corp Purchases New Shares in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Sigma Planning Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 9,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $365,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its position in shares of Vertex by 551.9% during the second quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 949,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,231,000 after buying an additional 803,881 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $22,173,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $12,402,000. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $10,738,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 4.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,791,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,929,000 after purchasing an additional 235,407 shares in the last quarter. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total value of $5,922,203.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,430,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,299,827. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total value of $895,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,654.24. This represents a 32.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,149,374 shares of company stock valued at $187,345,650. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Baird R W raised shares of Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.30.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of VERX opened at $49.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 272.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 0.67. Vertex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.31 and a twelve month high of $52.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $41.46 and a 200 day moving average of $37.32.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its 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. The business had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.70 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.