Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) Price Target Raised to $60.00 at Morgan Stanley

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $57.00 to $60.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on VERX. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Vertex in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Vertex in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Vertex from $62.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Vertex from $62.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Five 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.82.

Vertex Stock Down 0.8 %

VERX opened at $36.16 on Thursday. Vertex has a 52 week low of $27.22 and a 52 week high of $60.71. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.40. The firm has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 200.89, a PEG ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.87. 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 (NASDAQ:VERX) last announced its quarterly 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). 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 analyst estimates of $176.90 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 53,843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.48, for a total transaction of $3,041,052.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,229,257 shares in the company, valued at $69,428,435.36. The trade was a 4.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 44.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 27,602 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 344.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 4,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vertex by 36.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 469,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,081,000 after acquiring an additional 124,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Vertex by 126.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. 70.32% of the stock is owned by 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.