Hovde Group Upgrades Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) to Outperform

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) was upgraded by research analysts at Hovde Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Finviz reports. The firm currently has a $31.50 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. Hovde Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 17.76% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on VBTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veritex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.30.

Veritex Stock Performance

Shares of VBTX opened at $26.75 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $28.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. Veritex has a twelve month low of $18.08 and a twelve month high of $31.62. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.15 and a beta of 1.38.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.79%. On average, analysts forecast that Veritex will post 2.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veritex

In related news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 62,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,894,950.75. This trade represents a 21.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veritex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VBTX. Salzhauer Michael grew its holdings in shares of Veritex by 47.2% during the fourth quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 49,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after buying an additional 15,779 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Veritex by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 173,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,707,000 after purchasing an additional 27,685 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veritex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $509,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Veritex by 73.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 1,621 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.