Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Reaches New 12-Month High - Time to Buy?

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $58.20 and last traded at $57.38, with a volume of 42416 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $57.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.36.

Vertex Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $53.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.26. The company has a market cap of $8.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 314.61, a P/E/G ratio of 8.27 and a beta of 0.77.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $165.70 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 26,645 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.40, for a total transaction of $1,369,553.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 906,061 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,571,535.40. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John Richard Stamm sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.81, for a total value of $134,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,535 shares of the company's stock, valued at $835,938.35. The trade was a 13.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,578,219 shares of company stock valued at $179,270,309. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Vertex by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,287,774 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,102,000 after acquiring an additional 54,985 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 253,263 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,599 shares of the company's stock worth $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 414,945 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Vertex by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,361,901 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,447,000 after purchasing an additional 363,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Vertex by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,121,000 after purchasing an additional 37,592 shares during the period. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.