Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Invests $1.33 Million in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG acquired a new stake in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 37,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,334,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Vertex by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 712,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,643,000 after acquiring an additional 85,237 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Vertex in the 1st quarter worth about $673,000. Axiom Investors LLC DE bought a new position in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,253,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 1st quarter worth $12,043,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its stake in Vertex by 24.7% in the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 92,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,927,000 after acquiring an additional 18,258 shares during the last quarter. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Trading Up 3.5 %

NASDAQ:VERX traded up $1.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $37.06. 929,850 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 796,003. Vertex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.48 and a 12-month high of $40.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 926.50, a PEG ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 0.69.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 3.20% and a return on equity of 22.32%. The company had revenue of $161.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.04 earnings per share. Vertex’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.93, for a total value of $49,395,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,554,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VERX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Baird R W raised Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup raised 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, JMP Securities upped their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.30.

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.