Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, BMO Capital Markets Analyst Says

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price raised by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $42.00 to $52.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 1.17% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on VERX. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Baird R W upgraded shares of Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vertex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.80.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of VERX stock traded up $1.64 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $51.40. 950,575 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 766,002. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 427.00, a PEG ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.35. Vertex has a 52 week low of $22.31 and a 52 week high of $51.95.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a net margin of 3.20% and a return on equity of 22.32%. The business had revenue of $161.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.04 EPS. Vertex’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.95, for a total value of $575,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,635 shares in the company, valued at $777,778.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Vertex news, Director John Richard Stamm sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.95, for a total value of $575,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,635 shares in the company, valued at $777,778.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 52,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.02, for a total transaction of $2,162,287.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,144,993 shares in the company, valued at $46,967,612.86. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,629,244 shares of company stock worth $64,039,589. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VERX. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at $37,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Amalgamated Bank bought a new stake in Vertex in the second quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in Vertex by 46.1% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,099 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.10% 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.