Stifel Nicolaus Raises Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target to $58.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price objective hoisted by Stifel Nicolaus from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on VERX. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Vertex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.70.

Vertex Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of VERX stock opened at $53.06 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 294.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.77. Vertex has a 12-month low of $23.31 and a 12-month high of $57.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $48.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.88.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $170.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.70 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In related news, CEO David Destefano sold 159,107 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $7,893,298.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 332,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,484,906.90. This represents a 32.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 1,225,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $48,289,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $311,220.90. This represents a 99.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,007,563 shares of company stock valued at $235,917,246 in the last quarter. 44.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Vertex by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,287,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,102,000 after buying an additional 54,985 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Vertex by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,690,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,444,000 after acquiring an additional 253,263 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Vertex by 40.1% during the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,450,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 414,945 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Vertex by 36.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,361,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,447,000 after purchasing an additional 363,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,275,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,121,000 after buying an additional 37,592 shares during the last quarter. 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.