Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.36.

VERX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Vertex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $57.51 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Vertex has a twelve month low of $24.17 and a twelve month high of $60.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 319.50, a PEG ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $121,516,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $386,065.50. This represents a 99.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,428,435.36. This trade represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,632,062 shares of company stock worth $182,311,362. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brown Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the third quarter worth $20,938,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 1,100.4% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 572,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,530,000 after acquiring an additional 524,572 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 787.0% in the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 524,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,280,000 after acquiring an additional 465,610 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 74.9% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,029,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,035,000 after acquiring an additional 440,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 40.1% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 414,945 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

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.