Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Buys Shares of 18,186 Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,186 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Veritex by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Veritex by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,366 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Veritex by 1.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 73,421 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,920,000 after buying an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Veritex by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,166 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Veritex by 117.0% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,528 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 824 shares in the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VBTX. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Veritex in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Veritex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Hovde Group raised Veritex from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James downgraded Veritex from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Veritex from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.25.

Veritex Stock Up 3.7%

NASDAQ:VBTX traded up $0.89 on Monday, hitting $24.85. 328,200 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 391,584. The company has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74 and a beta of 1.01. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.74 and a 1 year high of $31.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $23.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.16.

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

Veritex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Veritex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 8th. Veritex's dividend payout ratio 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.