Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target to $48.00

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price cut by Jefferies Financial Group from $62.00 to $48.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on VERX. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Vertex from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Vertex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $31.00 in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

Vertex Stock Performance

Shares of Vertex stock opened at $32.29 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 179.39, a P/E/G ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Vertex has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $60.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $52.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.79.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Vertex

In other news, major shareholder Item Second Irr. Trust Fbo Kyl sold 13,346 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total transaction of $735,764.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,344,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,136,288.02. This represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Destefano sold 216,268 shares of Vertex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.04, for a total value of $11,903,390.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 293,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,145,708.80. This trade represents a 42.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 858,457 shares of company stock valued at $46,160,958. 44.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fairman Group LLC acquired a new stake in Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at $327,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vertex in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,363,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Vertex by 406.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 27,602 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in Vertex during the third quarter worth about $840,000. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. acquired a new position in Vertex during the fourth quarter worth about $3,135,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.32% of the company’s stock.

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.