JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 10.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,791,929 shares of the company's stock after selling 215,215 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 1.15% of Vertex worth $69,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Vertex by 6.1% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,313 shares of the company's stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Vertex by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Vertex by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,099 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Vertex by 4.4% in the third quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 16,707 shares of the company's stock valued at $643,000 after buying an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 52,713 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.02, for a total value of $2,162,287.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,144,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,967,612.86. This trade represents a 4.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total value of $121,516,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $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 3,782,563 shares of company stock valued at $187,627,746 in the last 90 days. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VERX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.36.

Vertex Price Performance

NASDAQ:VERX traded down $1.88 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $51.32. 1,078,320 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 954,410. The stock's 50-day moving average is $51.64 and its 200-day moving average is $42.49. Vertex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.31 and a twelve month high of $57.74. The firm has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of 285.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.70 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. Vertex's quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.