Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Invests $61.83 Million in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,158,849 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $61,825,000. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned 0.74% of Vertex at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $79,000. 70.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on VERX shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on Vertex in a research report on Tuesday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total value of $1,555,343.44. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company's stock.

Vertex Price Performance

VERX stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 782,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,002,337. The stock has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a PE ratio of 220.78, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company's 50 day moving average is $37.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.30. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.04 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.90 million. Equities research analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

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.