HighTower Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 33,582 Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 33,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,792,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at $79,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total transaction of $1,555,343.44. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,749.36. The trade was a 99.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total value of $3,041,052.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,428,435.36. The trade was a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 44.58% of the company's stock.

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Vertex Price Performance

Shares of Vertex stock traded up $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $35.86. The company had a trading volume of 894,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 963,609. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $60.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $5.67 billion, a PE ratio of 199.22, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.44.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.90 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. Research analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VERX shares. Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup increased their target price on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $49.82.

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.