Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.36.

VERX has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of VERX traded down $0.77 on Friday, hitting $52.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 924,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 922,702. The company has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a PE ratio of 289.78, a PEG ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $23.31 and a fifty-two week high of $57.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

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

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other Vertex news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 56,419 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.77, for a total value of $2,300,202.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 932,706 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,026,423.62. The trade was a 5.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total value of $121,516,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,065.50. This trade represents a 99.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,634,638 shares of company stock worth $181,570,512. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. West Oak Capital LLC raised its position in Vertex by 270,150.0% during the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 5,405 shares of the company's stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,403 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 933,034 shares of the company's stock worth $35,932,000 after buying an additional 211,896 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company's stock worth $69,444,000 after buying an additional 253,263 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Vertex in the third quarter valued at about $2,354,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Vertex by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company's stock worth $49,121,000 after acquiring an additional 37,592 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.32% of the company's stock.

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.