Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) to Market Perform

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on VBTX. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Veritex in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Veritex from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stephens increased their target price on Veritex from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James raised Veritex from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Veritex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.40.

Veritex Stock Down 1.4 %

VBTX stock opened at $27.08 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $25.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.62. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.74 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Veritex has a twelve month low of $16.84 and a twelve month high of $28.46.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $113.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $110.22 million. Veritex had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Veritex will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veritex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Veritex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Veritex in the first quarter worth $29,000. CWM LLC increased its position in Veritex by 1,302.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 3,101 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its stake in Veritex by 16.5% during the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 5,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Veritex during the first quarter valued at $177,000. 88.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.