Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $34.00 to $32.00. The stock had previously closed at $30.04, but opened at $27.99. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Vertex shares last traded at $28.00, with a volume of 839,358 shares trading hands.

VERX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.67.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $191,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,616.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $191,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $469,616.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider 2020 Irrevocable Trust For Ben sold 47,522 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.09, for a total transaction of $1,429,936.98. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 81,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,448,152.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,161,048 shares of company stock worth $35,034,678. Corporate insiders own 45.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Vertex by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,311,000 after buying an additional 452,840 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 3rd quarter worth $4,763,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Vertex by 85.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 425,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,822,000 after acquiring an additional 196,169 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 5.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,918,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,623,000 after acquiring an additional 264,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. 59.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertex Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.42 and a 200-day moving average of $26.98. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of -289.10, a PEG ratio of 7.74 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

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

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.