Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at DA Davidson

Research analysts at DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, November 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.36.

Vertex Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX opened at $53.35 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a PE ratio of 296.39, a PEG ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $51.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.30. Vertex has a 12-month low of $23.31 and a 12-month high of $57.74.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total transaction of $121,516,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,065.50. This represents a 99.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John Richard Stamm sold 2,500 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.81, for a total value of $134,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,938.35. This trade represents a 13.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,782,563 shares of company stock valued at $187,627,746. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Vertex by 2.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,287,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,102,000 after acquiring an additional 54,985 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,444,000 after purchasing an additional 253,263 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 414,945 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,361,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,447,000 after purchasing an additional 363,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,121,000 after purchasing an additional 37,592 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% 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.