Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Vertex, Inc. has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with five holding ratings, eight buy ratings, and one strong buy rating.
• The average 1-year target price for Vertex's stock among brokers is $43.69, with JMP Securities setting a target price of $50.00.
• Insider selling has been noted, with a significant transaction of 14,425 shares sold at an average price of $35.24, reducing insider ownership by 7.69%.

Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.6923.

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Vertex and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. DA Davidson lowered shares of Vertex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Vertex and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th.

Vertex Price Performance

Vertex stock traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.15. The stock had a trading volume of 2,991,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,483,003. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -76.21, a P/E/G ratio of 5.32 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The firm's 50 day moving average is $28.39 and its 200 day moving average is $34.06. Vertex has a one year low of $23.13 and a one year high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $184.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.60 million. Vertex had a negative net margin of 7.09% and a positive return on equity of 27.16%. Vertex's quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 14,425 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.24, for a total transaction of $508,337.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 173,074 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,099,127.76. This trade represents a 7.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 43.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. DLD Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at approximately $300,348,000. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at approximately $88,293,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at approximately $60,381,000. Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Vertex by 47.7% in the second quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 3,017,735 shares of the company's stock valued at $106,632,000 after acquiring an additional 974,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Vertex by 63.0% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,429,416 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,054,000 after acquiring an additional 939,031 shares in the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vertex Company Profile

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.