Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $55.52 and last traded at $55.15, with a volume of 747701 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $54.88.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VERX has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.30.

Vertex Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $43.46 and its 200-day moving average is $38.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 306.39, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $121,516,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,065.50. The trade was a 99.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 40,966 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.16, for a total transaction of $2,136,786.56. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,389,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,457,229.44. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,171,822 shares of company stock valued at $191,086,808. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the second quarter worth $22,173,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 10.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 248,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,940,000 after purchasing an additional 22,514 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the second quarter worth $1,824,000. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the third quarter worth $840,000. Finally, Brown Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the third quarter worth $20,938,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.