Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Baird R W

Baird R W upgraded shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on VERX. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Vertex in a report on Tuesday. They issued an outperform rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a buy rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Vertex from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $36.80.

Vertex Stock Up 3.5 %

VERX stock opened at $38.88 on Tuesday. Vertex has a one year low of $17.59 and a one year high of $40.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a PE ratio of 967.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.19 and a 200-day moving average of $30.70.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $156.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $155.50 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 18.67% and a net margin of 1.29%. As a group, analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,054,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,875,976.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 45.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 8.0% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 409,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,765,000 after acquiring an additional 30,391 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 16.9% in the second quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 545.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 220,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,964,000 after acquiring an additional 186,676 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the second quarter worth approximately $1,334,000. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 551.9% in the second 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 last quarter. 59.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.