Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Upgraded to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $50.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $35.00.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities raised their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Baird R W raised Vertex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.80.

Vertex Trading Up 0.1 %

Vertex stock opened at $42.23 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $21.92 and a fifty-two week high of $43.75. The stock has a market cap of $6.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 351.92, a PEG ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.14.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a return on equity of 22.32% and a net margin of 3.20%. The business had revenue of $161.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total transaction of $895,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,901,654.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO John R. Schwab sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.81, for a total transaction of $895,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,901,654.24. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 49,114 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.31, for a total transaction of $2,028,899.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,067,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,112,966.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,629,244 shares of company stock worth $64,039,589 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Vertex by 4.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,791,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,929,000 after purchasing an additional 235,407 shares during the period. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 1,386,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,046,000 after acquiring an additional 30,523 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 551.9% in the 2nd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 949,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,231,000 after acquiring an additional 803,881 shares during the period. Pembroke Management LTD grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 255.3% in the first quarter. Pembroke Management LTD now owns 927,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,446,000 after purchasing an additional 666,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vertex by 8.1% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 782,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,217,000 after purchasing an additional 58,678 shares in the last quarter. 59.10% of the stock is 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.