BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $42.00 to $52.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target suggests a potential upside of 0.02% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Baird R W raised shares of Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.27.

Vertex Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:VERX opened at $51.99 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 288.83, a PEG ratio of 14.22 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. Vertex has a 1 year low of $22.63 and a 1 year high of $52.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.15 and a 200-day moving average of $36.60.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 25.27%. 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 company posted $0.04 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total value 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. 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 this link. In other Vertex news, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total transaction of $895,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,654.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total value of $5,922,203.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,430,100 shares in the company, valued at $53,299,827. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,629,244 shares of company stock worth $64,039,589. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 6.1% during 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 holdings in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Vertex by 1.2% during 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 last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Vertex by 46.1% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its position in Vertex by 4.4% in 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 last quarter. 59.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.