Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $57.00 to $60.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley's target price points to a potential upside of 69.73% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered Vertex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.82.

Remove Ads

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of Vertex stock traded down $0.36 during trading on Thursday, reaching $35.35. 1,190,940 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 960,947. Vertex has a 52-week low of $27.22 and a 52-week high of $60.71. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $45.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.52. The company has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 196.39, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $176.90 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total transaction of $1,555,343.44. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,749.36. This trade represents a 99.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,428,435.36. This represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. 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.