Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock Position Cut by Tensile Capital Management LP

Tensile Capital Management LP trimmed its holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,769,550 shares of the company’s stock after selling 284,000 shares during the period. Vertex comprises approximately 20.9% of Tensile Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Tensile Capital Management LP owned about 2.42% of Vertex worth $201,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Vertex during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter worth $79,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Vertex by 7,675.0% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456 shares during the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VERX. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Four investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.73.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VERX opened at $38.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 211.94, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.98. Vertex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.26 and a fifty-two week 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $177.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.99 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. Vertex’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Destefano sold 109,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total value of $4,124,945.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,066,587 shares in the company, valued at $40,210,329.90. This represents a 9.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total value of $1,555,343.44. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,749.36. This represents a 99.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 158,398 shares of company stock worth $5,898,979 over the last ninety days. Company 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.