Jane Street Group LLC Purchases 45,615 Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 72.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 108,870 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 45,615 shares during the quarter. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in Vertex were worth $5,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 582,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,424,000 after acquiring an additional 29,700 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC lifted its stake in Vertex by 270,150.0% during the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,403 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Vertex by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 17,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $922,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the period. Finally, Sheets Smith Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 15,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,000 after buying an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VERX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 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 on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Vertex in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,749.36. This represents a 99.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vertex Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of VERX opened at $38.33 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a PE ratio of 212.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. Vertex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.26 and a 12-month high of $60.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The company had revenue of $177.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

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.