LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Acquires New Shares in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 87,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,070,000. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. owned about 0.06% of Vertex at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Vertex by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 588 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Vertex by 88.1% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming raised its position in shares of Vertex by 52.2% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 1,379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson lowered shares of Vertex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target (down previously from $61.00) on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 14,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.24, for a total transaction of $508,337.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 173,074 shares in the company, valued at $6,099,127.76. This trade represents a 7.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.45, for a total transaction of $115,350,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $303,562.75. The trade was a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock worth $130,136,108. 43.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vertex Trading Down 2.6%

VERX opened at $24.99 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $35.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of -75.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.70. Vertex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.94 and a twelve month high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. Vertex had a negative net margin of 7.09% and a positive return on equity of 27.16%. The business had revenue of $184.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.60 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate 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.