Needham & Company LLC Issues Positive Forecast for Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock Price

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $45.00 to $60.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.53% from the stock's previous close.

VERX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Vertex in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Vertex to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.80.

Vertex Stock Up 3.5 %

NASDAQ VERX traded up $1.73 on Thursday, reaching $51.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,220,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,254. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a PE ratio of 427.00, a P/E/G ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.61 and a 200-day moving average of $36.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Vertex has a 1 year low of $22.31 and a 1 year high of $51.95.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $161.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $160.66 million. Vertex had a net margin of 3.20% and a return on equity of 22.32%. Vertex's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.04 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other Vertex news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.95, for a total value of $575,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,635 shares of the company's stock, valued at $777,778.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Vertex news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 16,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.95, for a total value of $575,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,635 shares in the company, valued at $777,778.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total value of $895,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,104 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,901,654.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,629,244 shares of company stock worth $64,039,589 over the last 90 days. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VERX. Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its holdings in Vertex by 551.9% during the 2nd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 949,540 shares of the company's stock worth $34,231,000 after acquiring an additional 803,881 shares during the period. Pembroke Management LTD grew its position in Vertex by 255.3% during the 1st quarter. Pembroke Management LTD now owns 927,129 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,446,000 after purchasing an additional 666,223 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex during the second quarter valued at $22,173,000. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex by 40.1% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,599 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 414,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $12,402,000. Institutional investors own 59.10% 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.