Fred Alger Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Fred Alger Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 37.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,543,838 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,543,672 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC owned about 1.64% of Vertex worth $97,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Vertex during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Vertex by 126.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Vertex in the second quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $68,000. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Price Performance

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $54.25 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $44.54 and its 200 day moving average is $38.77. Vertex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.31 and a 12 month high of $55.52. The company has a market capitalization of $8.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 301.39, a P/E/G ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 0.67. 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 (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The business had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other Vertex news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.81, for a total transaction of $134,525.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,938.35. The trade was a 13.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 3,020 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.08, for a total value of $166,341.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,202,949 shares of company stock valued at $192,797,340 over the last 90 days. 44.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.30.

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.