Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $34.00 to $32.00. The stock had previously closed at $30.04, but opened at $27.99. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Vertex shares last traded at $28.00, with a volume of 839,358 shares.

VERX has been the subject of a number of other reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Vertex from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Vertex from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vertex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.67.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex news, CAO Lisa Butler sold 8,290 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total transaction of $245,632.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,407.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Vertex news, CAO Lisa Butler sold 8,290 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total transaction of $245,632.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,407.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $23,773,546.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,554,641 shares in the company, valued at $46,716,962.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,161,048 shares of company stock valued at $35,034,678 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 45.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Vertex during the third quarter worth about $49,000. RiverPark Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the third quarter worth approximately $60,000. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI raised its position in shares of Vertex by 22.4% in the third quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 2,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Finally, F M Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex during the first quarter worth approximately $209,000. Institutional investors own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

Vertex Trading Down 7.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -279.50, a P/E/G ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.95.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $154.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.44 million. Vertex had a negative net margin of 2.29% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. On average, analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.