Jeffrey Westphal Sells 2,485,000 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $121,516,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,065.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Jeffrey Westphal also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, October 3rd, Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of Vertex stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $48,289,500.00.

Vertex Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VERX traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $50.58. 1,107,020 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 786,597. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 281.00, a PEG ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.67. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.09. Vertex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.31 and a twelve month high of $52.93.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Vertex by 126.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the second quarter worth $68,000. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, November 4th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.30.

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.