Stifel Nicolaus Downgrades Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) to Hold

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) was downgraded by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Finviz reports. They currently have a $31.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $58.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target would indicate a potential downside of 10.25% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on VERX. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, DA Davidson started coverage on Vertex in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.91.

Vertex Price Performance

Vertex stock opened at $34.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.83. Vertex has a 12 month low of $24.86 and a 12 month high of $60.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a PE ratio of 191.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.90 million. Equities analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David Destefano sold 216,268 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.04, for a total transaction of $11,903,390.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 293,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,145,708.80. This represents a 42.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,428,435.36. This trade represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 858,457 shares of company stock valued at $46,160,958. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Vertex by 22.1% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 509,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,621,000 after purchasing an additional 92,137 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vertex by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 9,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the last quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 3rd quarter worth about $693,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 6.1% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp purchased a new stake in Vertex in the third quarter valued at approximately $365,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.