Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Given New $62.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $50.00 to $62.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on VERX. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.30.

Vertex Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ VERX opened at $50.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 281.00, a PEG ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.67. Vertex has a 1-year low of $23.31 and a 1-year high of $52.93. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $40.91 and a 200-day moving average of $37.09.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.70 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total transaction of $5,922,203.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,430,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,299,827. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total value of $5,922,203.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,430,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,299,827. The trade was a 0.00 % 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, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 52,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.02, for a total value of $2,162,287.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,144,993 shares in the company, valued at $46,967,612.86. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,149,374 shares of company stock valued at $187,345,650 over the last quarter. 44.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Banque Pictet & Cie SA raised its position in shares of Vertex by 551.9% in the 2nd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 949,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,231,000 after acquiring an additional 803,881 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $22,173,000. Brown Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex in the 3rd quarter valued at $20,938,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 787.0% during the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 524,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,280,000 after buying an additional 465,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Vertex by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 414,945 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

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.