Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) PT Raised to $47.00 at JMP Securities

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

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on VERX. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a report on Thursday, June 13th. 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. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set an outperform rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Vertex to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $37.30.

Vertex Stock Down 2.4 %

Vertex stock 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 P/E/G ratio of 19.39 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.20. Vertex has a 1-year low of $17.59 and a 1-year high of $40.05. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $156.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $155.50 million. Vertex had a net margin of 1.29% and a return on equity of 18.67%. On average, analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,500,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.93, for a total transaction of $49,395,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,554,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,124,328.13. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 45.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter worth $72,000. Sandia Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at $159,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at $166,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at $192,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

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.