Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $36.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Vertex traded as high as $36.34 and last traded at $36.15, with a volume of 97352 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $35.79.

VERX has been the topic of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Vertex from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.11.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now owns 2,554,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,124,328.13. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 45.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,311,000 after buying an additional 452,840 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,763,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 85.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 425,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,822,000 after purchasing an additional 196,169 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Vertex by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,918,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,623,000 after purchasing an additional 264,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE bought a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,253,000. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertex Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.36. The stock has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 901.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 17.88 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $156.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $155.50 million. Vertex had a net margin of 1.29% and a return on equity of 18.67%. Research analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.19 earnings per share 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.