Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Given a $43.00 Price Target at The Goldman Sachs Group

Key Points

• The Goldman Sachs Group has lowered its price target for Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) from $50.00 to $43.00 while maintaining a "buy" rating, indicating a potential upside of 56.62% from the current stock price.
• Vertex's recent quarterly earnings showed a slight beat with $0.15 EPS against estimates of $0.14, while revenue of $184.56 million represented a 14.6% year-over-year increase.
• Insider activity included CEO David Destefano selling over 109,000 shares, reducing his holdings by 9.3%, amidst overall strong institutional ownership of 70.32% in the company.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) has been given a $43.00 target price by research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, August 7th, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's price objective indicates a potential upside of 62.66% from the company's current price.

VERX has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Vertex in a report on Monday, June 16th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Vertex in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Vertex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.69.

Vertex Trading Up 3.1%

Shares of Vertex stock traded up $0.81 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $26.44. The stock had a trading volume of 271,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,335,089. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -80.11, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.70. 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 1 year low of $24.45 and a 1 year high of $60.71.

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

Insider Activity at Vertex

In other news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of Vertex 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $303,562.75. This trade represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 157,874 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.93, for a total value of $5,672,412.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 196,841 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,072,497.13. The trade was a 44.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,405,000 shares of company stock valued at $130,136,108. Insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Vertex by 31.0% during the 2nd 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 period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Vertex by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,678 shares of the company's stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Vertex by 25.7% during the 1st 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 period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Vertex by 44.4% during the 2nd 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 period. Finally, Strategic Advocates LLC boosted its position in Vertex by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 6,464 shares of the company's stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company's stock.

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.