Veritex’s (VBTX) “Hold (C+)” Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings reiterated their hold (c+) rating on shares of Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

VBTX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Veritex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. William Blair raised shares of Veritex to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Veritex from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Veritex from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Veritex in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.25.

Veritex Price Performance

VBTX stock opened at $30.34 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $33.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.11. The company has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.45 and a beta of 1.06. Veritex has a 52-week low of $20.37 and a 52-week high of $34.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 3rd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $64.03 million during the quarter. Veritex had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 7.55%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Veritex will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.90%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Angela Harper sold 47,716 shares of Veritex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.37, for a total transaction of $1,544,566.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 59,683 shares in the company, valued at $1,931,938.71. This trade represents a 44.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cara Mcdaniel sold 10,000 shares of Veritex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.53, for a total transaction of $325,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 17,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $565,111.16. This represents a 36.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 320,699 shares of company stock valued at $10,361,627. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veritex by 50.6% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Veritex during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Veritex during the first quarter worth about $31,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Veritex by 260.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Veritex by 28.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.