Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target Lowered to $43.00 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) had its price objective decreased by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $50.00 to $43.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 67.84% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on VERX. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Vertex from $60.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded Vertex to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Vertex from $38.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Vertex in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.69.

Vertex Price Performance

NASDAQ:VERX traded down $1.87 on Thursday, reaching $25.62. 1,143,702 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,315,725. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.35. Vertex has a 12 month low of $25.11 and a 12 month high of $60.71. The firm has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of -77.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.01. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 28.28% and a negative net margin of 7.09%. The company had revenue of $184.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.15 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Destefano sold 109,415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total transaction of $4,124,945.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,066,587 shares in the company, valued at $40,210,329.90. This trade represents a 9.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ryan J. Leib sold 5,755 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total transaction of $218,690.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,520,170 shares of company stock worth $134,479,744. Company insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Vertex by 23.8% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,877 shares of the company's stock worth $1,967,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Vertex by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 60,571 shares of the company's stock worth $3,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,445 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in Vertex by 61.8% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 34,380 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,834,000 after purchasing an additional 13,135 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Vertex by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,868,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $153,031,000 after purchasing an additional 580,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Vertex by 342.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,513,660 shares of the company's stock worth $80,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,576 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.