Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $42.46 and last traded at $42.44, with a volume of 468670 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $41.26.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on VERX shares. Baird R W raised Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Vertex from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.30.

Vertex Trading Up 3.5 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The company has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 355.00, a PEG ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $37.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.05.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 3.20% and a return on equity of 22.32%. The business had revenue of $161.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.04 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total transaction of $56,715,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,054,641 shares in the company, valued at $39,875,976.21. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total transaction of $5,922,203.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,430,100 shares in the company, valued at $53,299,827. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total value of $56,715,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,054,641 shares in the company, valued at $39,875,976.21. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,129,244 shares of company stock worth $120,754,589. 44.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 4.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,791,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,929,000 after purchasing an additional 235,407 shares during the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its position in Vertex by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 1,386,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,046,000 after buying an additional 30,523 shares during the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its stake in Vertex by 551.9% during the 2nd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 949,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,231,000 after acquiring an additional 803,881 shares in the last quarter. Pembroke Management LTD boosted its holdings in Vertex by 255.3% during the 1st quarter. Pembroke Management LTD now owns 927,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,446,000 after acquiring an additional 666,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Vertex by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 782,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,217,000 after acquiring an additional 58,678 shares during the last quarter. 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.