Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Given “Market Perform” Rating at Raymond James

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Raymond James in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on VERX. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Vertex from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.36.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX opened at $51.32 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of 285.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.49. Vertex has a 1-year low of $23.31 and a 1-year high of $57.74.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.70 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 3,020 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.08, for a total value of $166,341.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John Richard Stamm sold 2,500 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.81, for a total value of $134,525.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $835,938.35. This trade represents a 13.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,782,563 shares of company stock worth $187,627,746 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Amalgamated Bank bought a new stake in Vertex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $68,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Vertex by 191.1% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 1,483 shares in the last quarter. 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.