Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target Raised to $58.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price target boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.70.

Vertex Stock Down 0.1 %

Vertex stock opened at $53.53 on Wednesday. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $23.31 and a fifty-two week high of $57.74. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 297.39, a PEG ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.20.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The business 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%. Vertex’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $48,289,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,220.90. The trade was a 99.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 52,713 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.02, for a total transaction of $2,162,287.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,144,993 shares in the company, valued at $46,967,612.86. The trade was a 4.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,007,563 shares of company stock worth $235,917,246. 44.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 29.4% during the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 933,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,932,000 after buying an additional 211,896 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,444,000 after purchasing an additional 253,263 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,354,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,121,000 after buying an additional 37,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 5.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 582,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,424,000 after buying an additional 29,700 shares during the period. 70.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.