Vertex’s (VERX) Market Perform Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Raymond James reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. DA Davidson initiated coverage on Vertex in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.36.

Vertex Stock Down 3.5 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $51.32 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.49. The firm has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 285.11, a P/E/G ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. 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 quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.70 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $121,516,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,065.50. The trade was a 99.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 52,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.02, for a total transaction of $2,162,287.26. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,144,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,967,612.86. The trade was a 4.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,782,563 shares of company stock worth $187,627,746 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Vertex by 126.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Amalgamated Bank bought a new position in Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Vertex by 191.1% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.