Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) by 43.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 766,181 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 578,752 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned approximately 1.41% of Veritex worth $20,809,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Veritex by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,874,917 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $105,243,000 after purchasing an additional 39,746 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Veritex by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,803,752 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $76,149,000 after buying an additional 125,189 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew 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 valued at $33,675,000 after buying an additional 454,015 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Veritex by 220.5% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 966,391 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,247,000 after buying an additional 664,885 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Veritex by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 789,909 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $21,454,000 after buying an additional 14,924 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Veritex Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ VBTX traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $23.98. The stock had a trading volume of 273,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 388,692. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $23.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.99. The company has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.74 and a 1-year high of $31.62.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $109.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.73 million. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 8th. 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 3.67%. Veritex's payout ratio is 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.