Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with eight brokerages covering the stock.
• The company's average 12-month target price is $33.25, supported by various brokerage upgrades including a target increase from $30.00 to $37.00 by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
• Veritex announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.6%, with the dividend payout ratio currently at 41.90%.

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.25.

Several research firms recently weighed in on VBTX. William Blair upgraded Veritex to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Veritex from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Veritex in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. DA Davidson increased their target price on Veritex from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $34.00 target price (up from $30.00) on shares of Veritex in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th.

Insider Activity at Veritex

In other Veritex news, Director Arcilia Acosta sold 7,279 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total transaction of $233,947.06. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 54,933 shares in the company, valued at $1,765,546.62. This represents a 11.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Fallon William sold 7,220 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.68, for a total value of $221,509.60. Following the sale, the director owned 14,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at $435,379.88. This represents a 33.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 320,699 shares of company stock valued at $10,361,627 over the last three months. Insiders own 4.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veritex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VBTX. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Veritex by 50.6% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Veritex by 260.3% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,571 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 1,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Veritex by 28.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Veritex Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:VBTX opened at $33.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Veritex has a 52-week low of $20.37 and a 52-week high of $34.96. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $32.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.55. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.09 and a beta of 1.08.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.55% and a net margin of 14.83%.The business had revenue of $109.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Veritex will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Veritex's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.90%.

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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