Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Given New $40.00 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has lowered its price target for Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) from $60.00 to $40.00, while maintaining a "buy" rating, indicating a potential upside of 50.55% from the current stock price.
• Despite the price cut, analysts have varied opinions; other firms such as BNP Paribas and Piper Sandler have set higher price targets of $54.00 and $48.00 respectively, showcasing a generally positive outlook.
• Vertex's stock has been traded at $26.57 recently, with noticeable fluctuations in trading volume, including a trading down of $6.50 in a single day.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Free Report) had its price objective lowered by Needham & Company LLC from $60.00 to $40.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler began coverage on Vertex in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson raised Vertex to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on Vertex from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.69.

Vertex Stock Performance

Vertex stock traded down $1.82 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.67. 3,059,777 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,618,376. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a PE ratio of -77.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.70. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $25.11 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

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

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other news, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 7,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $303,562.75. The trade was a 99.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 14,425 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.24, for a total value of $508,337.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,520,170 shares of company stock valued at $134,479,744. Corporate insiders own 43.25% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 36,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,967,000 after buying an additional 7,089 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 9,830 shares of the company's stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 2,868 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 60,571 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,231,000 after buying an additional 1,445 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 13,135 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 580,664 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.