Corton Capital Inc. Has $269,000 Stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Corton Capital Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 26.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,041 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,829 shares during the quarter. Corton Capital Inc.’s holdings in Vertex were worth $269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Vertex by 342.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,513,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,754,000 after buying an additional 1,171,576 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,825,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Vertex by 233.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 851,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,409,000 after purchasing an additional 596,077 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Vertex by 25.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,868,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,031,000 after purchasing an additional 580,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Vertex by 1,100.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 572,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,530,000 after purchasing an additional 524,572 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VERX shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target 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. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

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. 44.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of VERX opened at $38.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion, a PE ratio of 215.00, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.23. Vertex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.04 and a 52-week high of $60.71.

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

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.