Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Now Covered by Stephens

Stephens began coverage on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a research note published on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock.

VERX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $43.00 price objective on Vertex and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup raised Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. JMP Securities set a $50.00 price target on Vertex and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered Vertex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.71.

Vertex Price Performance

Vertex stock opened at $24.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -75.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $27.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.81. Vertex has a 52 week low of $23.13 and a 52 week high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $184.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.60 million. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 27.16% and a negative net margin of 7.09%.The business’s revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VERX. Versant Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in Vertex in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Vertex by 31.0% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at about $54,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Vertex by 44.4% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Vertex by 25.7% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.32% 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.