Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Earns “Market Outperform” Rating from JMP Securities

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX)‘s stock had its “market outperform” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at JMP Securities in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $61.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities’ price objective points to a potential upside of 11.09% from the stock’s previous close.

VERX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vertex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.30.

Vertex Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of VERX traded down $1.40 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $54.91. 87,186 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 782,252. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $46.76 and its 200-day moving average is $39.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $23.31 and a fifty-two week high of $57.74. The company has a market cap of $8.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 307.94, a P/E/G ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 0.76.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.06 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other Vertex news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.81, for a total value of $134,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $835,938.35. The trade was a 13.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 3,020 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.08, for a total transaction of $166,341.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 4,202,949 shares of company stock worth $192,797,340. 44.58% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 6.3% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 46,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after buying an additional 2,719 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex during the 1st quarter worth approximately $239,000. PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd acquired a new stake in Vertex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $278,000. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Vertex by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 16,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Vertex in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.