BNP Paribas Begins Coverage on Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX)

Equities research analysts at BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 35.97% from the company’s previous close.

VERX has been the subject of several other reports. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Vertex from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.73.

Vertex Trading Up 1.6 %

Vertex stock opened at $39.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 220.64, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Vertex has a 52 week low of $27.96 and a 52 week high of $60.71.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $178.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.90 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. Analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Bryan T.R. Rowland sold 43,228 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.98, for a total value of $1,555,343.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,749.36. This represents a 99.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vertex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in Vertex in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Vertex during the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. 70.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.