Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Now Covered by Analysts at DA Davidson

DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a research report report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.36.

Vertex Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $53.20 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $23.31 and a fifty-two week high of $57.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 295.56, a P/E/G ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The business had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.06 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 46,098 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.48, for a total value of $1,866,047.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 989,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,039,780. This represents a 4.45 % 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 firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $418,513.95. The trade was a 98.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,782,563 shares of company stock valued at $187,627,746 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in Vertex by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 933,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,932,000 after acquiring an additional 211,896 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vertex by 17.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,444,000 after purchasing an additional 253,263 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Vertex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,354,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Vertex by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,121,000 after buying an additional 37,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Vertex by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 582,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,424,000 after buying an additional 29,700 shares during the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is 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.