Veritex Holdings, Inc. $VBTX Shares Sold by Comerica Bank

Key Points

• Comerica Bank reduced its stake in Veritex Holdings, Inc. by 31.0%, selling 17,579 shares, and now owns approximately 0.07% of the company valued at $978,000.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Veritex, with multiple firms recently raising ratings and price targets, including Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, which increased its target from $30.00 to $37.00.
• Veritex announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, representing an annual yield of 2.6%, with the ex-dividend date set for September 16th.

Comerica Bank decreased its position in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) by 31.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 39,171 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 17,579 shares during the period. Comerica Bank owned about 0.07% of Veritex worth $978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VBTX. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Veritex in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB acquired a new stake in Veritex in the first quarter valued at $227,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at $231,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Veritex by 92.6% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 8,884 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 4,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at $256,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on VBTX. William Blair raised Veritex to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Veritex from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Veritex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $34.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Veritex in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on Veritex from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Veritex presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $33.25.

Veritex Stock Performance

NASDAQ VBTX opened at $34.22 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $31.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.65. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.37 and a twelve month high of $34.96. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.30 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.55% and a net margin of 14.83%.The firm had revenue of $109.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 125,762 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.26, for a total value of $4,057,082.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 294,508 shares in the company, valued at $9,500,828.08. This trade represents a 29.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Angela Harper sold 47,716 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.37, for a total value of $1,544,566.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 59,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,931,938.71. This trade represents a 44.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 320,699 shares of company stock valued at $10,361,627 in the last three months. Company insiders own 4.30% of the company's stock.

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.

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