Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Trading Down 4.7% - Here's What Happened

Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) were down 4.7% on Friday . The company traded as low as $50.56 and last traded at $50.70. Approximately 428,997 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 604,003 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VERX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four equities research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.36.

Vertex Stock Performance

The business's fifty day simple moving average is $51.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.49. The company has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 285.11, a P/E/G ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm 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%. The business's revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total transaction of $735,764.98. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,344,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,136,288.02. This represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $30,480,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $418,513.95. The trade was a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,782,563 shares of company stock worth $187,627,746. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its position in Vertex by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 933,034 shares of the company's stock worth $35,932,000 after purchasing an additional 211,896 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 17.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company's stock worth $69,444,000 after buying an additional 253,263 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,354,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company's stock worth $49,121,000 after acquiring an additional 37,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Vertex by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 582,273 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,424,000 after acquiring an additional 29,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.32% 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.