Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Director Sells $233,947.06 in Stock

Key Points

• Arcilia Acosta, a director at Veritex Holdings, sold 7,279 shares of the company’s stock for a total of $233,947.06, representing an 11.70% decrease in her ownership.
• Veritex announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, with an ex-dividend date of August 7th, which results in an annualized dividend yield of 2.75%.
• Investment analysts have issued a mixed outlook on Veritex, with a "Moderate Buy" average rating and price targets ranging from $32 to $39 following upgrades by several brokerages.

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) Director Arcilia Acosta sold 7,279 shares of Veritex stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 54,933 shares in the company, valued at $1,765,546.62. This trade represents a 11.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Veritex Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of VBTX traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $31.96. 429,130 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 552,253. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.10 and a 1 year high of $33.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.22 and a beta of 1.03. The business's 50-day moving average price is $27.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.54.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 14.83%. The company had revenue of $109.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Veritex's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on VBTX. William Blair raised Veritex to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Veritex from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $34.00 price target (up from $30.00) on shares of Veritex in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Veritex from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Veritex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Veritex has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $33.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veritex

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Veritex by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,931,593 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $98,172,000 after acquiring an additional 56,676 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Veritex by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,803,752 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $76,149,000 after purchasing an additional 125,189 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Veritex by 3.0% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,040,856 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $50,960,000 after purchasing an additional 59,056 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veritex by 57.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,239,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,675,000 after purchasing an additional 454,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Veritex by 22.7% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,185,353 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $29,598,000 after purchasing an additional 218,962 shares in the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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