DA Davidson Lowers Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target to $50.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price objective cut by research analysts at DA Davidson from $55.00 to $50.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. DA Davidson’s price target points to a potential upside of 25.85% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vertex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.36.

Vertex Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VERX opened at $39.73 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 220.72, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80. Vertex has a 1-year low of $27.22 and a 1-year high of $60.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.40.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.90 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. Sell-side analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In other news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total transaction of $1,555,343.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,749.36. This trade represents a 99.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total value of $3,041,052.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,428,435.36. The trade was a 4.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 342.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,513,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,576 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $61,825,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Vertex by 233.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 851,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,409,000 after acquiring an additional 596,077 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 580,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 1,100.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 572,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,530,000 after purchasing an additional 524,572 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

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.