The Goldman Sachs Group Boosts Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target to $59.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from $42.00 to $59.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.48% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on VERX. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Baird R W raised Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.27.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of VERX stock opened at $51.99 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.15 and its 200 day moving average is $36.60. Vertex has a 1-year low of $22.63 and a 1-year high of $52.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 288.83, a PEG ratio of 14.22 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other Vertex news, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,901,654.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Vertex news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 49,114 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.31, for a total value of $2,028,899.34. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,067,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,112,966.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total value of $895,250.00. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,629,244 shares of company stock worth $64,039,589 over the last quarter. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Vertex in the third quarter valued at approximately $448,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 469,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,081,000 after purchasing an additional 124,169 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 787.0% in the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 524,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,280,000 after purchasing an additional 465,610 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex by 344.5% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 4,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.