Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Receives Market Perform Rating from Raymond James

Raymond James reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 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 upped their price target for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.36.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX traded down $1.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $51.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,078,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 954,410. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 285.11, a P/E/G ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $51.64 and a 200-day moving average of $42.49. Vertex has a 12 month low of $23.31 and a 12 month high of $57.74.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $165.70 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 0.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $30,480,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,782,563 shares of company stock valued at $187,627,746. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Vertex in the second quarter worth about $40,000. Amalgamated Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the second quarter valued at about $68,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 191.1% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the company's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 1,483 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.