Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.90.

VBTX has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James lowered Veritex from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $31.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Veritex in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Hovde Group upgraded shares of Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veritex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Veritex by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Veritex by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $146,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Veritex by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 73,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,920,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Veritex by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in Veritex by 117.0% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 824 shares during the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veritex Stock Down 1.3 %

Veritex stock opened at $20.77 on Friday. Veritex has a twelve month low of $18.74 and a twelve month high of $31.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $24.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.64.

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

Veritex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is 41.03%.

Veritex Company Profile

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.