JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $67.87 Million Stock Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its position in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 29.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,272,129 shares of the company’s stock after selling 519,800 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.82% of Vertex worth $67,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Sheets Smith Investment Management acquired a new stake in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,884,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Vertex by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,858,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,927,000 after buying an additional 137,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Vertex by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,967,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the period. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertex Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Vertex stock opened at $34.98 on Friday. Vertex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.22 and a 12-month high of $60.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 194.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.90 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. Research analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the business’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 value of $1,555,343.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 132 shares in the company, valued at $4,749.36. The trade was a 99.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total value of $3,041,052.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at $69,428,435.36. The trade was a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research report on Monday, December 9th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.82.

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.