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

JMP Securities reissued their market outperform rating on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $42.00 price target on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. 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 note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Vertex from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $35.67.

Vertex Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ VERX opened at $29.53 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Vertex has a 12 month low of $17.59 and a 12 month high of $35.38. The firm has a market capitalization 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.01.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 1,554,641 shares in the company, valued at $46,716,962.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Vertex news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 1,554,641 shares in the company, valued at $46,716,962.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John Richard Stamm sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $191,620.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,616.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,161,048 shares of company stock valued at $35,034,678 over the last three months. 45.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of VERX. Legacy Advisors LLC boosted its position in Vertex by 1,517.0% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 3,244,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,417,000 after buying an additional 3,044,193 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Vertex by 13.0% in the fourth 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. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Vertex by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,832,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,311,000 after buying an additional 452,840 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in Vertex by 9.5% in the third 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. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Vertex in the first quarter valued at approximately $12,043,000. 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.