The Goldman Sachs Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $42.00 to $59.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.48% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on VERX. Baird R W raised Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Vertex in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of 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, November 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.27.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX opened at $51.99 on Thursday. 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 $22.63 and a 1 year high of $52.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a PE ratio of 288.83, a P/E/G ratio of 14.22 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.60.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $161.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.66 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 25.27%. Vertex’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other Vertex news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 56,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.77, for a total transaction of $2,300,202.63. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 932,706 shares in the company, valued at $38,026,423.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 56,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.77, for a total value of $2,300,202.63. Following the sale, the insider now owns 932,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,026,423.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total value of $895,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,629,244 shares of company stock worth $64,039,589. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Vertex by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 1.2% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 51,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,640,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Vertex by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Vertex by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 16,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.10% 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.