Palogic Value Management L.P. Trims Holdings in Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)

Palogic Value Management L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) by 20.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,000 shares during the period. Vertex accounts for approximately 2.0% of Palogic Value Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Palogic Value Management L.P.’s holdings in Vertex were worth $5,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VERX. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 9,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 2,868 shares during the last quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. Sheets Smith Investment Management bought a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $1,884,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Vertex by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,858,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,927,000 after buying an additional 137,666 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VERX shares. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. Five research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.82.

Vertex Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VERX opened at $36.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a PE ratio of 200.89, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.40. Vertex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.22 and a twelve month high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its 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 net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The company had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.90 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,428,435.36. This represents a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.