Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target Cut to $48.00 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price objective cut by Jefferies Financial Group from $62.00 to $48.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on VERX. DA Davidson began coverage on Vertex in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Vertex from $42.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday. Five investment 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

Vertex Stock Down 6.5 %

Vertex stock opened at $32.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.74. The company has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of 179.39, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $27.22 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.90 million. Vertex had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 24.92%. Equities analysts anticipate that Vertex will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vertex news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 53,843 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,428,435.36. This represents a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 575,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total value of $30,480,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $418,513.95. The trade was a 98.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 858,457 shares of company stock valued at $46,160,958. 44.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Vertex by 22.1% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 509,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,621,000 after acquiring an additional 92,137 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Vertex by 13.5% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 9,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the third quarter valued at approximately $693,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Vertex by 6.1% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Vertex in the third quarter valued at approximately $365,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.