Bank of America Lowers Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target to $34.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price lowered by Bank of America from $40.00 to $34.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $31.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a market outperform rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given 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

VERX opened at $27.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -279.50, a PEG ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.36 and a 200 day moving average of $26.95. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $17.59 and a fifty-two week high of $35.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $154.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.44 million. Vertex had a negative net margin of 2.29% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $23,773,546.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,554,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,716,962.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $23,773,546.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,554,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,716,962.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider 2020 Irrevocable Trust For Ben sold 30,692 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.22, for a total transaction of $927,512.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,161,048 shares of company stock valued at $35,034,678. Company insiders own 45.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. F M Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at about $209,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at about $12,043,000. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at about $673,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at about $628,000. Finally, Capital CS Group LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at about $616,000. 59.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.