Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Raised to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) was upgraded by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $50.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $35.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 14.39% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on VERX. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Baird R W raised Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Vertex in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.80.

Vertex Stock Performance

Vertex stock opened at $43.71 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.25. Vertex has a 52 week low of $21.92 and a 52 week high of $43.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 364.25, a PEG ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 3.20% and a return on equity of 22.32%. The company had revenue of $161.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.04 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 56,419 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.77, for a total transaction of $2,300,202.63. Following the sale, the insider now owns 932,706 shares in the company, valued at $38,026,423.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 158,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.27, for a total value of $5,922,203.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,430,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,299,827. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 56,419 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.77, for a total value of $2,300,202.63. Following the sale, the insider now owns 932,706 shares in the company, valued at $38,026,423.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,629,244 shares of company stock worth $64,039,589 in the last 90 days. 44.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the second quarter worth about $37,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Vertex in the second quarter worth about $40,000. Amalgamated Bank bought a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at about $68,000. Finally, Sandia Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Vertex during the first quarter valued at approximately $159,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.