Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at DA Davidson

Investment analysts at DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson’s target price suggests a potential upside of 16.87% from the company’s previous close.

VERX has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.36.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX opened at $53.05 on Tuesday. Vertex has a 12 month low of $23.31 and a 12 month high of $57.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 294.72, a P/E/G ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $50.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.09.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The business’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $30,480,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $418,513.95. This trade represents a 98.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Destefano sold 159,107 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $7,893,298.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 332,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,484,906.90. This trade represents a 32.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,007,563 shares of company stock worth $235,917,246 over the last quarter. 44.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its position in Vertex by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 933,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,932,000 after buying an additional 211,896 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Vertex by 17.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,444,000 after purchasing an additional 253,263 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Vertex during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,354,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,121,000 after buying an additional 37,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Vertex by 5.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% 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.