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

Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $55.36.

A number of research firms have weighed in on VERX. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report 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 report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 56,419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.77, for a total transaction of $2,300,202.63. Following the sale, the insider now owns 932,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,026,423.62. This trade represents a 5.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total value of $121,516,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,065.50. The trade was a 99.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,634,638 shares of company stock worth $181,570,512 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Vertex by 5,910.7% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 73,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,639,000 after acquiring an additional 71,992 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,053,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth $245,000. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in Vertex by 11.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 1,642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ VERX opened at $52.93 on Friday. 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 12-month low of $23.31 and a 12-month high of $57.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $52.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 294.06, a P/E/G ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.