Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $30.86 and last traded at $30.69, with a volume of 32768 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $30.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VBTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded Veritex from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens boosted their price target on Veritex from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.40.

Veritex Trading Down 1.6 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.47 and a 200 day moving average of $23.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 1.36.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $113.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $110.22 million. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.79% and a net margin of 11.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.28%.

Insider Transactions at Veritex

In other news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total transaction of $508,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 62,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,894,950.75. The trade was a 21.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 12,777 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.69, for a total value of $353,795.13. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 224,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,206,215.08. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veritex

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in Veritex by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,668,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,193,000 after acquiring an additional 235,154 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Veritex by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,795,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,766,000 after acquiring an additional 23,222 shares during the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Veritex in the 2nd quarter valued at $566,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Veritex in the 2nd quarter valued at $730,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Veritex by 66.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 424,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,944,000 after acquiring an additional 169,448 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

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.