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 brokerages have also recently weighed in on VERX. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Baird R W raised Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.30.

Vertex Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ VERX opened at $49.10 on Wednesday. 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 market cap of $7.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 272.78, a PEG ratio of 9.28 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.46 and a 200-day moving average of $37.38. Vertex has a 1-year low of $23.31 and a 1-year high of $52.93.

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

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In related news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 8,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $420,007.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 782,706 shares in the company, valued at $38,743,947. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total value of $121,516,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $386,065.50. This represents a 99.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 4,149,374 shares of company stock valued at $187,345,650. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Vertex by 126.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Amalgamated Bank bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $68,000. Institutional investors 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.