Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock Price

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price upped by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $57.00 to $60.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 64.61% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their target price on Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.82.

Vertex Stock Up 5.2 %

VERX opened at $36.45 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 202.50, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. Vertex has a 12 month low of $27.22 and a 12 month high of $60.71. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $47.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.90 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. On average, equities analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 44.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Vertex by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,917,000 after buying an additional 2,515 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth $6,018,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at $1,909,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 165,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,831,000 after purchasing an additional 25,991 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex in the 4th quarter worth about $1,117,000. 70.32% of the stock is owned by 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.