Banque Pictet & Cie SA Sells 348,127 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA cut its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 36.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 613,563 shares of the company’s stock after selling 348,127 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA owned about 0.39% of Vertex worth $32,734,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VERX. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 3rd quarter worth about $444,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the third quarter worth about $208,000. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 4.4% during the third quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 16,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 191.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 5.1% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 160,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,190,000 after purchasing an additional 7,858 shares in the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.36.

Vertex Stock Performance

NASDAQ VERX opened at $45.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a PE ratio of 252.72, a P/E/G ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Vertex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.17 and a 1-year high of $60.71.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 3,020 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.08, for a total transaction of $166,341.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total value of $30,480,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $418,513.95. This trade represents a 98.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 952,825 shares of company stock valued at $51,112,003 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

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.