Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of 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 Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 256,225 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 54,580 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.47% of Veritex worth $6,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sippican Capital Advisors grew its position in shares of Veritex by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 99,230 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,612,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Veritex by 1.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 73,421 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,920,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in Veritex by 16.5% in the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 5,763 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Veritex in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Veritex by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 1,405 shares during the period. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veritex

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

Veritex Price Performance

Shares of Veritex stock traded down $0.77 on Thursday, hitting $26.39. 373,997 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 401,874. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.08 and a 1-year high of $31.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.92 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.56.

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. The company had revenue of $113.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.22 million. Veritex had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.79%. Veritex's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Veritex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VBTX shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Veritex from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price 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 raised their price target on shares of Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James upgraded Veritex from a "market perform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Veritex from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $29.40.

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.