Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Coverage Initiated at DA Davidson

Analysts at DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson’s target price indicates a potential upside of 16.21% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on VERX. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.36.

Vertex Stock Performance

VERX opened at $53.35 on Tuesday. Vertex has a 12-month low of $23.31 and a 12-month high of $57.74. The company has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 296.39, a PEG ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $51.23 and its 200 day moving average is $42.30.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $170.40 million during 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 quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.06 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other Vertex news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 3,020 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.08, for a total transaction of $166,341.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 46,098 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.48, for a total value of $1,866,047.04. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 989,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,039,780. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,782,563 shares of company stock worth $187,627,746 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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