Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target Raised to $47.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price increased by JMP Securities from $42.00 to $47.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a market outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on VERX. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Baird R W upgraded Vertex to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America lowered their target price on Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set an outperform rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $37.30.

Vertex Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $37.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 929.00, a PEG ratio of 19.39 and a beta of 0.69. Vertex has a 1-year low of $17.59 and a 1-year high of $40.05. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $35.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total transaction of $56,715,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,054,641 shares in the company, valued at $39,875,976.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 45.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vertex by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,918,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,623,000 after purchasing an additional 264,884 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Vertex by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,311,000 after buying an additional 452,840 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Vertex by 33.1% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 8,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 2,228 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,015,000. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 824.0% during the 4th quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 345,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,301,000 after acquiring an additional 307,892 shares during the period. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.