Robert W. Baird Has Lowered Expectations for Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock Price

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price objective reduced by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $62.00 to $45.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target suggests a potential upside of 36.52% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on VERX. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday. 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 note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.82.

Vertex Stock Performance

NASDAQ VERX opened at $32.96 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $52.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.83. Vertex has a 1 year low of $27.22 and a 1 year high of $60.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 185.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.90 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on 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 owns 1,344,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,136,288.02. This trade represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $30,480,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $418,513.95. The trade was a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 858,457 shares of company stock worth $46,160,958 in the last quarter. 44.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Vertex by 342.5% in 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 during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter worth $61,825,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Vertex by 233.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 851,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,409,000 after acquiring an additional 596,077 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Vertex by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,868,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,031,000 after acquiring an additional 580,664 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex during the third quarter valued at about $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.