Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Cut to Outperform at Raymond James

Raymond James cut shares of Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) from a strong-buy rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Raymond James currently has $28.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous target price of $31.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Veritex in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.90.

Veritex Stock Down 3.4 %

VBTX opened at $21.57 on Wednesday. Veritex has a twelve month low of $18.74 and a twelve month high of $31.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $25.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 1.10.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.59%. Equities research analysts forecast that Veritex will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Veritex’s payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VBTX. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Veritex by 117.0% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 824 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Veritex in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Veritex by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP bought a new stake in Veritex in the third quarter worth about $98,000. Institutional investors own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

About Veritex

Veritex Holdings, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Veritex Community Bank that provides various commercial banking products and services to small and medium-sized businesses, and professionals. The company accepts deposit products include demand, savings, money market, and time accounts. Its loan products include commercial real estate and general commercial, mortgage warehouse loans, residential real estate, construction and land, farmland, paycheck protection program, 1-4 family residential, agricultural, multi-family residential, and consumer loans, as well as purchased receivables financing.