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

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $52.30.

A number of research firms have issued reports on VERX. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped 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.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX opened at $54.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 304.89, a P/E/G ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 0.67. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $43.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.22. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $23.31 and a fifty-two week high of $55.25.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The business had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. Vertex’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,065.50. This represents a 99.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 8,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total value of $420,007.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 782,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,743,947. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,171,822 shares of company stock valued at $191,086,808. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VERX. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the first quarter valued at approximately $166,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vertex by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,791,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,929,000 after buying an additional 235,407 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Vertex by 8.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 248,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,900,000 after acquiring an additional 18,335 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 24.7% during the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 92,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,927,000 after acquiring an additional 18,258 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the first quarter valued at $192,000. 59.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.