Ameriprise Financial Inc. Acquires 172,219 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 17.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,149,840 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 172,219 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Vertex were worth $61,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex by 72.1% in the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 108,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,808,000 after acquiring an additional 45,615 shares in the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter worth about $1,435,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 558,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,817,000 after buying an additional 28,083 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 510,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,223,000 after buying an additional 89,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bullseye Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Bullseye Asset Management LLC now owns 76,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,074,000 after acquiring an additional 9,289 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on VERX. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Stock Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $38.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.10. Vertex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.26 and a 1-year high of $60.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 212.94, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The business had revenue of $177.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current 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.