Millennium Management LLC Grows Position in Veritex Holdings, Inc. $VBTX

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Veritex Holdings by 22.7%, acquiring 218,962 additional shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 1,185,353 shares valued at $29.6 million.
• Veritex recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.6% and a payout ratio of 41.90%.
• Analysts have set a consensus price target of $33.25 for Veritex stock, with five analysts rating it as a "buy" and three as "hold."

Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) by 22.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,185,353 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 218,962 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned about 2.18% of Veritex worth $29,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Veritex in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,215,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veritex by 1,813.1% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 614,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $15,353,000 after buying an additional 582,733 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Veritex in the 4th quarter worth about $14,644,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veritex by 57.8% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,239,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,675,000 after buying an additional 454,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc acquired a new stake in Veritex in the 1st quarter worth about $6,621,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.31% of the company's stock.

Veritex Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ VBTX traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $33.64. The company had a trading volume of 981,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 817,790. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.46 and a 200 day moving average of $27.06. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.37 and a 1-year high of $34.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02 and a beta of 1.08.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. Veritex had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 7.55%. The company had revenue of $109.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $110.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Veritex's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veritex

In other news, EVP Angela Harper sold 47,716 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.37, for a total transaction of $1,544,566.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 59,683 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,931,938.71. This represents a 44.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John Sughrue sold 5,669 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $181,408.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 50,652 shares in the company, valued at $1,620,864. This represents a 10.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 320,699 shares of company stock valued at $10,361,627. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VBTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Veritex from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $34.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Veritex in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. William Blair raised shares of Veritex to an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Veritex in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Veritex from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.25.

Veritex 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.