Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Receives $55.36 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four 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. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.36.

VERX has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of VERX opened at $55.83 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Vertex has a twelve month low of $23.38 and a twelve month high of $57.74. The company has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 310.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.64 and a beta of 0.77.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 26,645 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.40, for a total value of $1,369,553.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 906,061 shares in the company, valued at $46,571,535.40. This represents a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,065.50. The trade was a 99.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,578,219 shares of company stock valued at $179,270,309 in the last 90 days. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Vertex by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 17,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $922,000 after buying an additional 584 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Vertex during the fourth quarter worth $50,000. West Oak Capital LLC raised its position in Vertex by 270,150.0% in 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 during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 933,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,932,000 after purchasing an additional 211,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings 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. 70.32% of the stock is 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.