Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) PT Lowered to $32.00 at Citigroup

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) had its price target dropped by stock analysts at Citigroup from $34.00 to $32.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 16.79% from the company’s previous close.

VERX has been the subject of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Vertex from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Vertex from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Vertex from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Vertex from $33.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Vertex from $40.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.67.

Vertex Stock Performance

Vertex stock traded down $2.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $27.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,819,330 shares, compared to its average volume of 538,055. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -274.00, a PEG ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.36 and a 200-day moving average of $26.95. Vertex has a 52 week low of $17.59 and a 52 week high of $35.38.

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. Vertex had a positive return on equity of 16.15% and a negative net margin of 2.29%. The business had revenue of $154.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.44 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vertex will post 0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vertex

In related news, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total transaction of $23,773,546.65. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,554,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,716,962.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Vertex news, CAO Lisa Butler sold 8,290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.63, for a total transaction of $245,632.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,407.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Jeffrey Westphal sold 791,133 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.05, for a total value of $23,773,546.65. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,554,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,716,962.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,161,048 shares of company stock valued at $35,034,678 over the last ninety days. 45.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vertex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its stake in shares of Vertex by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 2,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Vertex by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 34,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $798,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the period. RiverPark Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Vertex by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. RiverPark Advisors LLC now owns 3,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Vertex by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. now owns 33,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $764,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Vertex by 15.2% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822 shares during the period. 59.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.