Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Given New $31.00 Price Target at Stephens

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

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on VBTX. StockNews.com upgraded Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Veritex from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.50.

Veritex Stock Performance

VBTX opened at $26.81 on Thursday. Veritex has a 1-year low of $18.08 and a 1-year high of $31.62. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $27.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Veritex Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Veritex’s payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total value of $508,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 62,643 shares in the company, valued at $1,894,950.75. The trade was a 21.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VBTX. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Veritex during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Veritex in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Veritex by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP bought a new position in shares of Veritex during the third quarter valued at about $98,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Veritex by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 1,621 shares during the period. 88.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.