EP Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $231,000 in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 8,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in shares of Veritex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in Veritex by 117.0% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 824 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Veritex during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Veritex by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 1,621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Veritex during the 4th quarter valued at $143,000. Institutional investors own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

Veritex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VBTX opened at $24.94 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.15. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.74 and a 52-week high of $31.62.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 13.44%. The business had revenue of $109.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.73 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Veritex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Veritex’s payout ratio is currently 43.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

About Veritex

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.