Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $30.98 and last traded at $30.98, with a volume of 12729 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $30.07.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VBTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Veritex from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.40.

Veritex Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.43 and a 200-day moving average of $24.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90 and a beta of 1.36.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.79% and a net margin of 11.11%. The business had revenue of $113.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.22 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Veritex’s payout ratio is 51.28%.

Insider Transactions at Veritex

In related news, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 12,777 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.69, for a total transaction of $353,795.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 224,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,206,215.08. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of Veritex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total value of $508,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 62,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,894,950.75. This represents a 21.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veritex

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Veritex by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,668,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,193,000 after purchasing an additional 235,154 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Veritex by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,795,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,766,000 after acquiring an additional 23,222 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Veritex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $566,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Veritex in the 2nd quarter worth about $730,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Veritex by 66.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 424,106 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,944,000 after purchasing an additional 169,448 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

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.