Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $53.04 and last traded at $52.98, with a volume of 143372 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $52.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VERX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. 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. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Vertex from $41.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Three 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.30.

Vertex Stock Up 0.7 %

The company has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a PE ratio of 299.06, a P/E/G ratio of 9.61 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.74 and a 200 day moving average of $37.94.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.06 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $48,289,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,220.90. The trade was a 99.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total transaction of $5,922,203.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,430,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,299,827. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,330,722 shares of company stock worth $197,009,011 over the last three months. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Vertex by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 712,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,643,000 after purchasing an additional 85,237 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth about $22,173,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in Vertex by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 92,167 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,927,000 after buying an additional 18,258 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Vertex by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 248,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,940,000 after buying an additional 22,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,824,000. Institutional investors own 59.10% of the company’s stock.

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.