Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) PT Lowered to $32.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price target cut by Citigroup from $34.00 to $32.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 16.79% from the stock’s previous close.

VERX has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Vertex from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.67.

Vertex Trading Down 8.8 %

NASDAQ:VERX traded down $2.64 on Tuesday, hitting $27.40. The stock had a trading volume of 1,819,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 538,055. Vertex has a 1-year low of $17.59 and a 1-year high of $35.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.95. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -274.00, a PEG ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 0.62.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $154.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.44 million. Vertex had a negative net margin of 2.29% and a positive return on equity of 16.15%. Equities research analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Vertex news, CAO Lisa Butler sold 8,290 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total transaction of $245,632.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,407.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $23,773,546.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,554,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,716,962.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lisa Butler sold 8,290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total value of $245,632.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 250 shares in the company, valued at $7,407.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,161,048 shares of company stock valued at $35,034,678. Insiders own 45.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Vertex by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,555,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,673,000 after buying an additional 637,075 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in Vertex by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 4,651,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,454,000 after buying an additional 404,550 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Vertex by 1,517.0% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 3,244,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,417,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,193 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,311,000 after buying an additional 452,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 2,596,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,968,000 after buying an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. 59.10% of the stock is owned by 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.