Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 16,001 Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) by 21.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 89,422 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 16,001 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Veritex worth $2,429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Veritex by 4.6% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 48,582 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex during the 3rd quarter valued at $404,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Veritex by 63.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 117,609 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,095,000 after acquiring an additional 45,787 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veritex by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,293,966 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,064,000 after acquiring an additional 18,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Veritex by 24.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 631,372 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $16,618,000 after purchasing an additional 122,809 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.31% of the company's stock.

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Veritex Stock Up 2.1 %

VBTX traded up $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $21.56. 533,684 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 392,106. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $24.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.74 and a fifty-two week high of $31.62. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 1.11.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share 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 7.59%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Veritex's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VBTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James cut shares of Veritex from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Veritex in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Hovde Group raised 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.90.

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.