PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Has $301,000 Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 596.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,607 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,372 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Vertex were worth $301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in Vertex in the first quarter worth about $28,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Vertex by 88.1% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 948 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in Vertex by 7,675.0% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Vertex in the first quarter worth about $97,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Vertex by 75.3% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VERX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. JMP Securities set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Vertex and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. BNP Paribas assumed 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 157,874 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.93, for a total value of $5,672,412.82. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 196,841 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,072,497.13. This trade represents a 44.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.45, for a total transaction of $115,350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly 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 ninety days, insiders sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock worth $130,136,108. Insiders own 43.25% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of VERX stock opened at $25.63 on Friday. Vertex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.45 and a 52-week high of $60.71. The stock has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of -77.66, a PEG ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.70. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $33.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.03.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $184.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.60 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast 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.