Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Receives $52.30 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $54.70.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VERX. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Vertex Stock Performance

VERX opened at $53.06 on Monday. Vertex has a 1-year low of $23.31 and a 1-year high of $57.74. The company has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 294.78, a PEG ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $48.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.70 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other Vertex news, CEO David Destefano sold 159,107 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $7,893,298.27. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 332,290 shares in the company, valued at $16,484,906.90. The trade was a 32.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total value 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 represents a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,007,563 shares of company stock worth $235,917,246. 44.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Vertex by 6.1% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Vertex by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 662 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Vertex by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 16,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,000 after buying an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% 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.