Sterling Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) by 25,046.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,766 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 45,584 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC owned about 0.08% of Veritex worth $1,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Veritex by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 601,276 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $16,331,000 after acquiring an additional 207,376 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Veritex during the 4th quarter worth $6,974,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Veritex by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 53,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,460,000 after buying an additional 3,112 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veritex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $306,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Veritex in the 4th quarter valued at $847,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VBTX shares. Raymond James lowered shares of Veritex from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Hovde Group raised shares of Veritex from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.50 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Veritex in a report on Monday, March 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.90.

Veritex Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:VBTX traded down $0.41 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $21.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 37,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 393,852. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.97 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.51. 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 issued its 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%. Research analysts expect that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Veritex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

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.