JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 81,355 Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 712,727 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 81,355 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 1.31% of Veritex worth $19,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in Veritex during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Veritex by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Veritex by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,826 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Veritex during the 4th quarter worth $215,000. Institutional investors own 88.31% of the company's stock.

Veritex Stock Performance

Veritex stock traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $21.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 44,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 390,751. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $24.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.74 and a 12-month high of $31.62. The company has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.02 and a beta of 1.11.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.59%. Sell-side analysts predict that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. Veritex's dividend payout ratio is 41.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VBTX. Raymond James lowered Veritex from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their price target for the company from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Veritex in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Hovde Group raised Veritex from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.50 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.90.

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.