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

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.00.

Several research analysts have weighed in on VERX shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd.

Vertex Trading Down 6.5 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $32.29 on Friday. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $27.22 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of 179.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.74.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David Destefano sold 216,268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.04, for a total value of $11,903,390.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 293,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,145,708.80. This represents a 42.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total value of $735,764.98. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,344,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,136,288.02. The trade was a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 858,457 shares of company stock worth $46,160,958 in the last ninety days. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 342.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,513,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,576 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $61,825,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Vertex by 233.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 851,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,409,000 after acquiring an additional 596,077 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,868,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,031,000 after acquiring an additional 580,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the third quarter worth approximately $20,938,000. 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.