Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Given Buy Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 64.61% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on VERX. Citigroup lifted their target price on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, December 9th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Vertex Trading Up 5.2 %

Shares of VERX stock opened at $36.45 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 202.50, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.47. 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 fifty-two week low of $27.22 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $178.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.90 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. Research analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In related news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,428,435.36. The trade was a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Vertex by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management boosted its position in Vertex by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 15,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $806,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Vertex by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Vertex by 126.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in Vertex by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% 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.