Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC Makes New $40,000 Investment in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VERX. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at $201,000. Sheets Smith Investment Management bought a new position in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,884,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Vertex by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,858,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,927,000 after acquiring an additional 137,666 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Vertex by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,967,000 after acquiring an additional 7,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $667,000. 70.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $3,041,052.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at $69,428,435.36. This trade represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,749.36. The trade was a 99.70 % 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.

Vertex Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ VERX opened at $35.54 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $45.64 and a 200-day moving average of $46.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 197.44, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.22 and a 12 month high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.03). Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.90 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.82.

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.