Stephens Lowers Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Price Target to $31.00

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) had its target price reduced by Stephens from $34.00 to $31.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Veritex from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.50.

Veritex Price Performance

VBTX stock opened at $26.81 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.96 and a 200 day moving average of $26.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 1.38. Veritex has a 1 year low of $18.08 and a 1 year high of $31.62.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.63%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Veritex will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Veritex’s payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 21.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Veritex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Veritex by 0.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,978,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,067,000 after purchasing an additional 9,611 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Veritex by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,293,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,064,000 after purchasing an additional 18,185 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Veritex by 67.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 807,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,248,000 after buying an additional 325,569 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Veritex by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 732,865 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,289,000 after acquiring an additional 12,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Veritex by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 680,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,918,000 after buying an additional 78,082 shares during the period. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.