Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $58.20 and last traded at $57.38, with a volume of 42416 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $57.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective 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, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.36.

Vertex Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a PE ratio of 316.67, a P/E/G ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its 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. 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.06 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,428,435.36. The trade was a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 2,485,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.90, for a total value of $121,516,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $386,065.50. This represents a 99.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,632,062 shares of company stock valued at $182,311,362. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Vertex by 406.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 27,602 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at $22,173,000. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in Vertex during the 3rd quarter worth $840,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 432,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,639,000 after purchasing an additional 23,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 22,514 shares during the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.