Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target Lowered to $55.00 at DA Davidson

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price lowered by research analysts at DA Davidson from $62.00 to $55.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. DA Davidson’s price target points to a potential upside of 67.69% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on VERX. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Vertex Price Performance

Vertex stock traded down $1.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $32.80. The company had a trading volume of 914,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,115,544. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $27.22 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. 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 cap of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 182.94, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.74.

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

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VERX. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Vertex by 126.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 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.