Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Shares Bought by West Oak Capital LLC

West Oak Capital LLC raised its position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 270,150.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,405 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,403 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Vertex were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 29.4% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 933,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,932,000 after purchasing an additional 211,896 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 17.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,444,000 after purchasing an additional 253,263 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the third quarter valued at about $2,354,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,121,000 after purchasing an additional 37,592 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 5.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 582,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,424,000 after purchasing an additional 29,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Trading Down 1.5 %

Vertex stock traded down $0.77 during trading on Friday, reaching $52.16. The company had a trading volume of 924,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 922,702. Vertex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.31 and a 12-month high of $57.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $52.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 289.78, a PEG ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. 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 (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the previous year, the company posted $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 56,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.77, for a total transaction of $2,300,202.63. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 932,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,026,423.62. The trade was a 5.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $121,516,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,065.50. This trade represents a 99.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,634,638 shares of company stock valued at $181,570,512 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Vertex in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.36.

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.