Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target Raised to $61.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at JMP Securities from $47.00 to $61.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market outperform” rating on the stock. JMP Securities’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 18.68% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued 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 upped their target price for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday. Baird R W upgraded Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.80.

Vertex Stock Up 3.3 %

Vertex stock traded up $1.64 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $51.40. The stock had a trading volume of 950,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 766,002. Vertex has a 52 week low of $22.31 and a 52 week high of $51.95. 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 $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 427.00, a PEG ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $39.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.35.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 3.20% and a return on equity of 22.32%. The firm had revenue of $161.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $48,289,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,220.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total transaction of $895,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,104 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,654.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $48,289,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at $311,220.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,629,244 shares of company stock worth $64,039,589. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in Vertex by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 712,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,643,000 after purchasing an additional 85,237 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at $22,173,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its stake in Vertex by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 92,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,927,000 after purchasing an additional 18,258 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Vertex by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 248,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,940,000 after purchasing an additional 22,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,824,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

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.