Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price objective lifted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $57.00 to $60.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 68.02% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on VERX. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Five equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.82.

Vertex Stock Down 1.2 %

VERX stock opened at $35.71 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $46.33 and a 200 day moving average of $46.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.65 billion, a PE ratio of 198.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. 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 has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.03). Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The business had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.90 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,428,435.36. This represents a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total transaction of $1,555,343.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares in the company, valued at $4,749.36. The trade was a 99.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

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.