Fairman Group LLC Acquires Shares of 6,129 Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Fairman Group LLC bought a new position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Vertex by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,287,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,102,000 after purchasing an additional 54,985 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 17.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,444,000 after buying an additional 253,263 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its position in Vertex by 40.1% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after buying an additional 414,945 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Vertex by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,361,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,447,000 after acquiring an additional 363,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Vertex by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,121,000 after acquiring an additional 37,592 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Destefano sold 159,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $7,893,298.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 332,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,484,906.90. This represents a 32.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 40,966 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.16, for a total value of $2,136,786.56. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,389,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,457,229.44. This trade represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,111,932 shares of company stock valued at $59,005,301 in the last three months. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VERX. DA Davidson started coverage on Vertex in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, November 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.36.

Vertex Price Performance

NASDAQ VERX opened at $52.36 on Wednesday. Vertex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.17 and a 1 year high of $60.71. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 290.89, a P/E/G ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.78.

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.