Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target Cut to $32.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price target trimmed by Citigroup from $34.00 to $32.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on VERX. JMP Securities reissued a market outperform rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Vertex in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Vertex from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $35.67.

Vertex Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of VERX stock opened at $29.53 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.54 and its 200-day moving average is $27.01. The stock has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -295.30, a PEG ratio of 7.45 and a beta of 0.62. Vertex has a 52-week low of $17.59 and a 52-week high of $35.38.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Lisa Butler sold 8,290 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total transaction of $245,632.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,407.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Vertex news, insider 2020 Irrevocable Trust For Ben sold 47,522 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.09, for a total value of $1,429,936.98. Following the sale, the insider now owns 81,361 shares in the company, valued at $2,448,152.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Lisa Butler sold 8,290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total transaction of $245,632.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,407.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,161,048 shares of company stock worth $35,034,678. Corporate insiders own 45.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new position in shares of Vertex during the third quarter valued at $4,763,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 5.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,918,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,623,000 after acquiring an additional 264,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vertex by 1,195.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,144,000 after acquiring an additional 205,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.