Brokerages Set Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) PT at $52.30

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $54.70.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VERX shares. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $48,289,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,220.90. This represents a 99.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Destefano sold 216,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.04, for a total transaction of $11,903,390.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 293,345 shares in the company, valued at $16,145,708.80. This trade represents a 42.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,007,563 shares of company stock valued at $235,917,246 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 406.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 27,602 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $22,173,000. DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $840,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Vertex by 5.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 432,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,639,000 after acquiring an additional 23,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Vertex by 10.0% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 248,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,940,000 after acquiring an additional 22,514 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of VERX opened at $53.53 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 297.39, a P/E/G ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.20. Vertex has a 12 month low of $23.31 and a 12 month high of $57.74. 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 (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 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 company had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. Vertex’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share 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.