Morgan Stanley Boosts Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target to $62.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price target lifted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $50.00 to $62.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 25.38% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.30.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of VERX opened at $49.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.09. Vertex has a 52-week low of $23.31 and a 52-week high of $52.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a PE ratio of 274.72, a P/E/G ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.67.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued 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. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The business had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. Vertex’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 26,645 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.40, for a total transaction of $1,369,553.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 906,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,571,535.40. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total value of $895,250.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,654.24. This trade represents a 32.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,149,374 shares of company stock valued at $187,345,650 in the last ninety days. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VERX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Vertex by 4.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,791,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,929,000 after acquiring an additional 235,407 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,287,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,102,000 after acquiring an additional 54,985 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 414,945 shares during the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA raised its position in shares of Vertex by 551.9% during the second quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 949,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,231,000 after acquiring an additional 803,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex by 8.1% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 782,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,217,000 after acquiring an additional 58,678 shares during the last quarter. 59.10% of the stock is 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.