Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases 9,115 Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 293,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,115 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Veritex were worth $7,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VBTX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Veritex by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,874,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $105,243,000 after buying an additional 39,746 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Veritex by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,293,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,064,000 after acquiring an additional 18,185 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Veritex by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 789,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,454,000 after acquiring an additional 14,924 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Veritex by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 741,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,133,000 after acquiring an additional 8,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Veritex by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 680,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,918,000 after purchasing an additional 78,082 shares during the period. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on VBTX. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Veritex in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Hovde Group upgraded Veritex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.50 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Veritex from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.50.

Veritex Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Veritex stock opened at $24.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.90. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.74 and a 1 year high of $31.62.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 13.44%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

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.