Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Cuts Stock Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,521,537 shares of the company's stock after selling 44,457 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.98% of Vertex worth $81,174,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 126.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertex Stock Performance

NASDAQ VERX traded down $0.92 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $34.63. The stock had a trading volume of 309,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 985,335. Vertex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.22 and a 52-week high of $60.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $44.43 and a 200 day moving average of $46.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 192.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87.

Remove Ads

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In related news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total transaction of $1,555,343.44. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,749.36. This represents a 99.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VERX. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Vertex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Vertex from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.82.

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.