Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Has $11.52 Million Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 215,102 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,383 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Vertex were worth $11,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VERX. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex during the 4th quarter worth $534,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Vertex during the fourth quarter worth $595,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 17,062 shares of the company’s stock valued at $910,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter worth about $79,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 43,474 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,319,000 after buying an additional 9,088 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David Destefano sold 216,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.04, for a total transaction of $11,903,390.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 293,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,145,708.80. This trade represents a 42.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total value of $30,480,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $418,513.95. This represents a 98.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 858,457 shares of company stock valued at $46,160,958. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of Vertex stock opened at $32.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a PE ratio of 180.56, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. Vertex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.22 and a 1-year high of $60.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.60.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The company had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.90 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VERX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.00.

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.