Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $50.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $35.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on VERX. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Baird R W upgraded Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.80.

Vertex Price Performance

VERX stock opened at $49.76 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.61 and a 200 day moving average of $36.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 414.67, a PEG ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 0.67. Vertex has a 1 year low of $22.21 and a 1 year high of $49.90.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $161.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.66 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 22.32% and a net margin of 3.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex 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 shares were sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total value of $5,922,203.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,430,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,299,827. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.95, for a total value of $575,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $777,778.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 1,430,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,299,827. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,629,244 shares of company stock valued at $64,039,589 over the last three months. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in Vertex during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Amalgamated Bank bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in Vertex by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

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.