Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $50.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $35.00.

VERX has been the subject of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.80.

Vertex Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Vertex stock opened at $42.23 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.14. Vertex has a 12-month low of $21.92 and a 12-month high of $43.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 351.92, a PEG ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 0.67.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 3.20% and a return on equity of 22.32%. The business had revenue of $161.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.04 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 56,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.77, for a total transaction of $2,300,202.63. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 932,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,026,423.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 56,419 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.77, for a total value of $2,300,202.63. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 932,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,026,423.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $48,289,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $311,220.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,629,244 shares of company stock valued at $64,039,589 in the last ninety days. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VERX. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in Vertex during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the second quarter worth $37,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the second quarter worth $40,000. Amalgamated Bank bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the second quarter worth $68,000. Finally, Sandia Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Vertex during the first quarter valued at $159,000. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.