Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $33.25.

A number of brokerages have commented on VBTX. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Veritex in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Veritex in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Veritex from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of Veritex in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, William Blair raised Veritex to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Lavonda Renfro sold 53,411 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.38, for a total value of $1,729,448.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 60,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,949,567.42. This represents a 47.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Angela Harper sold 47,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.37, for a total value of $1,544,566.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 59,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,931,938.71. This represents a 44.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 315,030 shares of company stock valued at $10,180,219 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veritex

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Veritex by 26.1% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 157,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,105,000 after purchasing an additional 32,530 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Veritex by 1.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 160,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,185,000 after purchasing an additional 2,254 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Veritex by 1.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 145,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,618 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Veritex by 28.7% in the second quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 207,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,424,000 after purchasing an additional 46,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Veritex by 15.0% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 648,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,931,000 after purchasing an additional 84,599 shares during the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Veritex Stock Up 3.0%

VBTX stock opened at $31.77 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.84. Veritex has a fifty-two week low of $20.37 and a fifty-two week high of $33.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13 and a beta of 1.08.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $109.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.91 million. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.55% and a net margin of 14.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Veritex will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.90%.

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.