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

Key Points

• Vertex, Inc. has received a "Moderate Buy" average recommendation from fourteen brokerages, with a price target of $43.69.
• Recent insider trading includes the sale of 3 million shares by Jeffrey Westphal, decreasing his ownership by 99.74%.
• The company reported earnings of $0.15 per share, surpassing estimates, while revenue increased by 14.6% compared to the previous year.

Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.6923.

VERX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JMP Securities set a $50.00 price objective on Vertex and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Vertex and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In related news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.45, for a total value of $115,350,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $303,562.75. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 157,874 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.93, for a total transaction of $5,672,412.82. Following the transaction, the insider owned 196,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,072,497.13. This represents a 44.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock worth $130,136,108. Insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VERX. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Vertex by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 54,115 shares of the company's stock worth $2,887,000 after acquiring an additional 11,966 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 3,751.0% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 8,087 shares of the company's stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 7,877 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Vertex by 25.4% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 224,762 shares of the company's stock worth $7,869,000 after purchasing an additional 45,494 shares during the last quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI bought a new position in shares of Vertex in the first quarter worth approximately $8,203,000. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Vertex by 42.1% in the first quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 2,043,205 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,533,000 after purchasing an additional 605,617 shares in the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of VERX opened at $25.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -78.33, a PEG ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. Vertex has a 12 month low of $24.45 and a 12 month high of $60.71.

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

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.

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