Vertex's (VERX) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $45.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Vertex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a market outperform rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $35.67.

Vertex Price Performance

Vertex stock traded up $1.04 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $30.30. 546,534 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 648,577. The company has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -303.00, a PEG ratio of 7.54 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $30.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Vertex has a 12-month low of $17.59 and a 12-month high of $35.38.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last announced 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.44 million. Equities analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In related news, CAO Lisa Butler sold 8,290 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total value of $245,632.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,407.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Vertex news, CAO Lisa Butler sold 8,290 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total transaction of $245,632.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,407.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 26,609 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.62, for a total transaction of $894,594.58. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,338,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,999,193.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,161,048 shares of company stock valued at $35,034,678 in the last three months. 45.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Legacy Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 1,517.0% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 3,244,871 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,193 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,555,808 shares of the company's stock valued at $149,673,000 after purchasing an additional 637,075 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company's stock valued at $76,311,000 after purchasing an additional 452,840 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vertex by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 4,651,701 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,454,000 after purchasing an additional 404,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $12,043,000. 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.