JMP Securities Reiterates Market Outperform Rating for Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX)

JMP Securities reiterated their market outperform rating on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $42.00 target price on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VERX. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Vertex from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Vertex from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $35.67.

Vertex Stock Up 0.4 %

Vertex stock opened at $29.53 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Vertex has a 1-year low of $17.59 and a 1-year high of $35.38. The company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of -295.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.45 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.01.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 16.15% and a negative net margin of 2.29%. The firm had revenue of $154.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.44 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vertex will post 0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vertex

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total value of $23,773,546.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,554,641 shares in the company, valued at $46,716,962.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Ann sold 173,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.34, for a total value of $5,260,682.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,165,074 shares in the company, valued at $35,348,345.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total value of $23,773,546.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,554,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,716,962.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,161,048 shares of company stock valued at $35,034,678 over the last three months. 45.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Vertex by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,311,000 after acquiring an additional 452,840 shares during the period. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in Vertex during the third quarter valued at about $4,763,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Vertex by 85.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 425,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,822,000 after acquiring an additional 196,169 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vertex by 5.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,918,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,623,000 after buying an additional 264,884 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vertex by 1,195.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,144,000 after buying an additional 205,489 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.10% 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.