Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Invests $3.93 Million in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 73,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,927,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at about $79,000. 70.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total transaction of $1,555,343.44. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,749.36. This represents a 99.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 44.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of VERX stock opened at $38.33 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.13. Vertex, Inc. has a one year low of $30.26 and a one year high of $60.71. The firm has a market cap of $6.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 212.94, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The business had revenue of $177.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.99 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VERX shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. DA Davidson lowered 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.73.

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.