Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $50.00.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on VERX shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th.

Vertex Price Performance

Vertex stock opened at $33.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.81. Vertex has a 12 month low of $27.22 and a 12 month high of $60.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a PE ratio of 183.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.90 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. Equities analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,428,435.36. This represents a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David Destefano sold 216,268 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.04, for a total value of $11,903,390.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 293,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,145,708.80. This trade represents a 42.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 858,457 shares of company stock worth $46,160,958. 44.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.