Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $6.74 Million Stock Holdings in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 256,225 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 54,580 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.47% of Veritex worth $6,744,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VBTX. Sippican Capital Advisors lifted its stake in Veritex by 0.4% during the third quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 99,230 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,612,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Veritex by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 27,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Veritex by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,622 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd boosted its position in shares of Veritex by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 5,763 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Veritex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Institutional investors own 88.31% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veritex

In other Veritex news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total transaction of $508,805.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 62,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,894,950.75. The trade was a 21.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 12,777 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.69, for a total transaction of $353,795.13. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 224,132 shares in the company, valued at $6,206,215.08. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Veritex Price Performance

NASDAQ VBTX traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $28.73. 51,040 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 403,148. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.08 and a 52-week high of $30.86. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 18.63 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 0.95. The firm's 50-day moving average is $26.88 and its 200-day moving average is $23.69.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Veritex had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.79%. The firm had revenue of $113.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. Veritex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on VBTX. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Veritex from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Veritex from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on shares of Veritex from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $29.40.

Veritex 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.