UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Acquires 22,228 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) by 18.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 139,530 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 22,228 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Vertex worth $5,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex in the second quarter valued at $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Vertex in the second quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the second quarter worth $68,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VERX. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $52.30.

Vertex Trading Down 0.2 %

VERX stock traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $54.79. The company had a trading volume of 522,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 785,352. The stock has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 305.00, a PEG ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 0.77. Vertex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.31 and a 52 week high of $57.74. 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $47.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.25.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $165.70 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. Vertex's quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In related news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total value of $735,764.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,344,754 shares in the company, valued at $74,136,288.02. This trade represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $48,289,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at $311,220.90. The trade was a 99.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,216,295 shares of company stock valued at $193,533,105. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company's stock.

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.