Stifel Nicolaus Increases Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target to $58.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price target raised by Stifel Nicolaus from $52.00 to $58.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 8.23% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. 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 report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.70.

Vertex Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of VERX opened at $53.59 on Wednesday. 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 52-week low of $23.31 and a 52-week high of $57.74. The firm has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 297.72, a PEG ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $48.90 and its 200-day moving average is $40.97.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In related news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 2,500 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.81, for a total transaction of $134,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,938.35. This trade represents a 13.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $30,480,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $418,513.95. The trade was a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,007,563 shares of company stock worth $235,917,246. Insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Vertex by 2.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,287,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,102,000 after buying an additional 54,985 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vertex by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,444,000 after acquiring an additional 253,263 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after acquiring an additional 414,945 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Vertex by 36.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,361,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,447,000 after acquiring an additional 363,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Vertex by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,121,000 after purchasing an additional 37,592 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% 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.