Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $55.52 and last traded at $55.15, with a volume of 747701 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $54.88.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Vertex from $43.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vertex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $35.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Vertex from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vertex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.30.

Vertex Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.39. The stock has a market cap of $8.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 306.39, a PEG ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 0.67. 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 (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $165.70 million. Vertex had a return on equity of 24.92% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Vertex, Inc. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David Destefano sold 159,107 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $7,893,298.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 332,290 shares in the company, valued at $16,484,906.90. This trade represents a 32.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Jac sold 8,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total value of $420,007.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 782,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,743,947. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,171,822 shares of company stock worth $191,086,808 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vertex

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VERX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Vertex by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,791,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,929,000 after purchasing an additional 235,407 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at about $192,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Vertex in the 1st quarter valued at about $321,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Vertex by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 46,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank lifted its stake in Vertex by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 230,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,332,000 after purchasing an additional 24,851 shares during the last quarter. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vertex Company Profile

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.