Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Given “Market Outperform” Rating at JMP Securities

JMP Securities reaffirmed their market outperform rating on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $42.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Citigroup lowered their price target on Vertex from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 12th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Vertex from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America lowered their price target on Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $35.67.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of Vertex stock opened at $27.94 on Tuesday. Vertex has a one year low of $17.59 and a one year high of $35.38. The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of -279.50, a P/E/G ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.95.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 16.15% and a negative net margin of 2.29%. The business had revenue of $154.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.44 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other Vertex news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $191,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,930 shares in the company, valued at $469,616.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $23,773,546.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,554,641 shares in the company, valued at $46,716,962.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John Richard Stamm sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $191,620.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $469,616.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,161,048 shares of company stock worth $35,034,678. 45.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,311,000 after purchasing an additional 452,840 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new position in Vertex in the third quarter worth $4,763,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Vertex by 85.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 425,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,822,000 after acquiring an additional 196,169 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Vertex by 5.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,918,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,623,000 after acquiring an additional 264,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Vertex by 1,195.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,144,000 after acquiring an additional 205,489 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.10% 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.