Raymond James Cuts Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Price Target to $31.00

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) had its target price lowered by Raymond James from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a strong-buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on VBTX. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Hovde Group raised Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.50.

Veritex Stock Performance

Shares of Veritex stock opened at $26.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. Veritex has a 1 year low of $18.08 and a 1 year high of $31.62. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.36. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 1.38.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) 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 7.63%. Equities analysts forecast that Veritex will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Veritex’s payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Insider Transactions at Veritex

In other news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total value of $508,805.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 62,643 shares in the company, valued at $1,894,950.75. This trade represents a 21.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veritex

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peregrine Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Veritex by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 217,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,903,000 after buying an additional 29,803 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Veritex by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 264,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,173,000 after acquiring an additional 7,882 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Veritex in the fourth quarter worth about $509,000. Salzhauer Michael boosted its position in shares of Veritex by 47.2% during the 4th quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 49,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after purchasing an additional 15,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Veritex by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 173,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,707,000 after purchasing an additional 27,685 shares during the last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.