AQR Capital Management LLC Purchases 33,566 Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 444,515 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 33,566 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.82% of Veritex worth $12,073,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VBTX. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Veritex by 63.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 117,609 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,095,000 after purchasing an additional 45,787 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Veritex by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Veritex during the fourth quarter worth $1,057,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Veritex by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 631,372 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $16,618,000 after acquiring an additional 122,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Veritex by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 264,107 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,173,000 after acquiring an additional 7,882 shares during the period. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Veritex Stock Performance

VBTX opened at $23.88 on Tuesday. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.74 and a 1 year high of $31.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $23.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.28. The stock has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 1.01.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. Veritex had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.59%. The firm had revenue of $109.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $110.73 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. This is a positive change from Veritex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Veritex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.14%.

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.

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