Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 29.94% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Vertex in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.50.

Vertex Price Performance

Shares of VERX opened at $36.94 on Monday. Vertex has a fifty-two week low of $30.26 and a fifty-two week high of $60.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.27. The company has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -127.37, a PEG ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.02. Vertex had a negative net margin of 6.45% and a positive return on equity of 28.14%. The firm had revenue of $177.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.99 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Vertex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David Destefano sold 109,415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total value of $4,124,945.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,066,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,210,329.90. This represents a 9.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey Westphal sold 3,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.45, for a total transaction of $115,350,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $303,562.75. This represents a 99.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,115,170 shares of company stock worth $119,693,636. Corporate insiders own 43.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VERX. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 25.7% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the period. 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.