Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Hovde Group

Hovde Group upgraded shares of Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Hovde Group currently has $31.50 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson raised 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.50.

Veritex Price Performance

NASDAQ VBTX opened at $26.81 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 1.38. Veritex has a 52-week low of $18.08 and a 52-week high of $31.62.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.63%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Veritex will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Insider Activity at Veritex

In other news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 62,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,894,950.75. This trade represents a 21.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $509,000. Salzhauer Michael boosted its holdings in Veritex by 47.2% in the 4th quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 49,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after purchasing an additional 15,779 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Veritex by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 173,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,707,000 after buying an additional 27,685 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,621 shares during the period. 88.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.