Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Downgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to "Market Perform"

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

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

Veritex Price Performance

VBTX stock traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $27.47. The stock had a trading volume of 311,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 403,694. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Veritex has a 52 week low of $15.93 and a 52 week high of $28.46.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. Veritex had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The business had revenue of $113.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Veritex will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. Veritex's dividend payout ratio is presently 46.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veritex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Veritex by 67.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 807,294 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,248,000 after purchasing an additional 325,569 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates acquired a new position in Veritex during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,971,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Veritex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $240,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Veritex by 163.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,808 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 5,469 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Veritex during the third quarter worth about $949,000. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.