Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.30.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VERX. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $48,289,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,220.90. This represents a 99.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total transaction of $5,922,203.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,430,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,299,827. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,289,756 shares of company stock valued at $194,872,224 over the last quarter. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Vertex in the second quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank bought a new position in Vertex in the second quarter valued at $68,000. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX opened at $52.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 290.61, a P/E/G ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 0.67. Vertex has a 1 year low of $23.31 and a 1 year high of $52.93. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.83.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.70 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. Vertex’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vertex Company 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.