Walleye Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Veritex Holdings, Inc. $VBTX

Key Points

• Walleye Capital LLC has made a new investment in Veritex Holdings, Inc., acquiring 15,846 shares valued at approximately $396,000 during Q1.
• Veritex announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $0.88 and a yield of 2.6%.
• The stock has seen recent price target upgrades from multiple analysts, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.25.

Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 15,846 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Veritex in the first quarter worth $31,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new stake in Veritex in the first quarter valued at about $227,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at about $231,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 4,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of Veritex in the fourth quarter worth about $256,000. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Veritex Stock Performance

Shares of Veritex stock opened at $34.10 on Wednesday. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $20.37 and a one year high of $34.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Veritex's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.90%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John Sughrue sold 5,669 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $181,408.00. Following the sale, the director owned 50,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,620,864. This trade represents a 10.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arcilia Acosta sold 7,279 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total value of $233,947.06. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 54,933 shares in the company, valued at $1,765,546.62. This trade represents a 11.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 320,699 shares of company stock valued at $10,361,627. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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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