Invesco Ltd. Has $80.75 Million Stock Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 342.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,513,660 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,171,576 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Vertex were worth $80,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $327,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $3,363,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth $3,135,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 1,100.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 572,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,530,000 after acquiring an additional 524,572 shares during the period. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at about $534,000. 70.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $38.48 on Monday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.43. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.22 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a PE ratio of 213.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $176.90 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VERX shares. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Vertex from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total transaction of $1,555,343.44. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at $69,428,435.36. The trade was a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.