Stifel Nicolaus Issues Positive Forecast for Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock Price

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price target upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $41.00 to $52.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VERX. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Baird R W upgraded shares of Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.27.

Vertex Stock Up 1.3 %

VERX traded up $0.66 on Thursday, hitting $51.99. 1,737,449 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 775,053. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. Vertex has a twelve month low of $22.63 and a twelve month high of $52.93. The company has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 285.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.22 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.45.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $161.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.66 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 25.27% and a net margin of 4.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.04 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In related news, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total value of $895,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,654.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Vertex news, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total transaction of $895,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,104 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,654.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John Richard Stamm sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,629,244 shares of company stock valued at $64,039,589. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its holdings in Vertex by 551.9% during the 2nd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 949,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,231,000 after acquiring an additional 803,881 shares during the last quarter. Pembroke Management LTD raised its position in Vertex by 255.3% in the 1st quarter. Pembroke Management LTD now owns 927,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,446,000 after purchasing an additional 666,223 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at $22,173,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its stake in shares of Vertex by 787.0% during the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 524,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,280,000 after purchasing an additional 465,610 shares during the period. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its position in Vertex by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after buying an additional 414,945 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

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.