Brokerages Set Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Target Price at $51.00

Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $50.00.

Several brokerages have commented on VERX. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Vertex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Vertex Stock Up 0.2 %

VERX stock traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $32.20. 1,148,297 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 896,272. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $51.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.84. Vertex has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $60.71. The company has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 178.76, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78.

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Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.90 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In related news, CEO David Destefano sold 216,268 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.04, for a total value of $11,903,390.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 293,345 shares in the company, valued at $16,145,708.80. The trade was a 42.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 858,457 shares of company stock worth $46,160,958 over the last three months. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Vertex by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.