JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Stock Holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,272,129 shares of the company's stock after selling 519,800 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.82% of Vertex worth $67,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in Vertex in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter worth $79,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. DA Davidson cut their target price on Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Vertex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.82.

Vertex Trading Up 9.7 %

Shares of Vertex stock traded up $3.42 on Wednesday, hitting $38.52. 1,409,386 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,014,526. 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 $6.09 billion, a PE ratio of 214.00, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $40.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.35. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.03). Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The firm had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.90 million. Equities research analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total value of $1,555,343.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 132 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $69,428,435.36. This represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vertex 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.