Analysts Set Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Target Price at $51.00

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $50.00.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VERX. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VERX opened at $32.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 180.56, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. Vertex has a twelve month low of $27.22 and a twelve month high of $60.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $50.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.03). Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The business had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.90 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $30,480,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $418,513.95. The trade was a 98.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total value of $735,764.98. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,344,754 shares in the company, valued at $74,136,288.02. This trade represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 858,457 shares of company stock worth $46,160,958. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VERX. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $327,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth $3,363,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 406.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 27,602 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the third quarter valued at $840,000. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at $3,135,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% 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.