Fred Alger Management LLC Trims Stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Fred Alger Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,543,838 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,543,672 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Vertex were worth $97,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 406.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 27,602 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the second quarter worth $22,173,000. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the third quarter valued at $840,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 10.0% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 248,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,940,000 after purchasing an additional 22,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,824,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VERX has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 332,290 shares in the company, valued at $16,484,906.90. This represents a 32.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $48,289,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,220.90. This trade represents a 99.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,202,949 shares of company stock worth $192,797,340 in the last ninety days. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vertex Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $54.25 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.31 and a fifty-two week high of $55.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 301.39, a P/E/G ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 0.67.

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

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.