Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Given a $50.00 Price Target by JMP Securities Analysts

Key Points

• JMP Securities has lowered its price target for Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) from $61.00 to $50.00, while maintaining a "market outperform" rating, suggesting a potential upside of 73.48% from its current price.
• Vertex's stock has seen mixed ratings from analysts, with two holds, ten buys, and one strong buy, leading to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.92.
• Insider transactions have raised concerns, as significant shares have been sold, including a 99.74% ownership reduction by Jeffrey Westphal, indicating potential shifts in investor confidence.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX - Get Free Report) has been given a $50.00 target price by investment analysts at JMP Securities in a research note issued on Thursday, August 7th, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a "market outperform" rating on the stock. JMP Securities' target price points to a potential upside of 94.92% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Vertex in a report on Monday, June 16th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson raised shares of Vertex to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Vertex in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $54.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Vertex from $38.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.69.

Vertex Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of VERX traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $25.65. The stock had a trading volume of 395,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,338,298. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -77.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.70. Vertex has a 1-year low of $24.45 and a 1-year high of $60.71.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

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

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings 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 last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Vertex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings 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 last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.