Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Short Interest Update

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,940,000 shares, an increase of 43.8% from the June 30th total of 4,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,110,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.93, for a total transaction of $49,395,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,554,641 shares in the company, valued at $84,124,328.13. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 45.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,311,000 after acquiring an additional 452,840 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex during the first quarter worth about $673,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Vertex by 5.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,918,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,623,000 after acquiring an additional 264,884 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,253,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at about $12,043,000. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Trading Up 1.9 %

VERX traded up $0.72 during trading on Monday, reaching $39.60. 453,921 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 792,889. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $17.59 and a fifty-two week high of $40.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 972.00, a P/E/G ratio of 19.79 and a beta of 0.69.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.01). Vertex had a return on equity of 18.67% and a net margin of 1.29%. The business had revenue of $156.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $155.50 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.19 EPS for the current year.

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.