Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Short Interest Update

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, a decline of 14.6% from the March 31st total of 1,580,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 405,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Veritex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VBTX opened at $24.00 on Friday. Veritex has a 52 week low of $18.74 and a 52 week high of $31.62. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 1.11.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $109.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.73 million. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Veritex will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 8th. This is a boost from Veritex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Veritex’s payout ratio is 43.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on VBTX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Veritex from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Veritex in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James lowered shares of Veritex from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group raised Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veritex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VBTX. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Veritex in the first quarter valued at $31,000. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Veritex by 117.0% during the fourth 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. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Veritex by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.