Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $27.22 Million Stock Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 21.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 510,267 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,700 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Vertex were worth $27,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VERX. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vertex by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management grew its stake in Vertex by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 15,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $806,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Vertex by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Vertex by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 569 shares during the period. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Vertex by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 17,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $922,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VERX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In related news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, 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 this link. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Stock Performance

VERX opened at $39.74 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $36.90 and its 200-day moving average is $46.33. Vertex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.04 and a 52-week high of $60.71. The firm has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 220.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (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 net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. Sell-side analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal 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.