Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys New Stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 11,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $595,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in Vertex during the 4th quarter worth about $79,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,516 shares of the company's stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% of the company's stock.

Vertex Stock Performance

NASDAQ VERX traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.48. 1,313,533 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,020,387. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 213.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80. Vertex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.22 and a 12-month high of $60.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $39.42 and a 200 day moving average of $46.37.

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Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $176.90 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VERX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Raymond James reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,428,435.36. This trade represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 44.58% of the company's stock.

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.