Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target points to a potential upside of 8.23% from the company’s current price.

VERX has been the subject of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.70.

Vertex Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $53.59 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 297.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. Vertex has a twelve month low of $23.31 and a twelve month high of $57.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $48.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,220.90. This trade represents a 99.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John Richard Stamm sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.81, for a total transaction of $134,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,938.35. This represents a 13.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,007,563 shares of company stock worth $235,917,246 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in Vertex during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex by 126.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex in the second quarter worth $37,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Vertex in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank bought a new stake in Vertex during the second quarter worth about $68,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.