The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target to $48.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $64.00 to $48.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on VERX. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Vertex Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of VERX stock opened at $33.04 on Monday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $51.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.81. The company has a market cap of $5.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 183.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. Vertex has a 1-year low of $27.22 and a 1-year high of $60.71.

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

Insider Activity

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total value of $735,764.98. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,344,754 shares in the company, valued at $74,136,288.02. This trade represents a 0.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Destefano sold 216,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $16,145,708.80. This represents a 42.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 858,457 shares of company stock worth $46,160,958. Corporate 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 business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.