Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys New Stake in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 256,784 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,974,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.47% of Veritex as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Veritex by 63.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 117,609 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,095,000 after purchasing an additional 45,787 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Veritex by 1.4% during the 3rd 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Veritex by 24.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 631,372 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $16,618,000 after purchasing an additional 122,809 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Veritex by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.31% of the company's stock.

Veritex Stock Performance

Shares of VBTX stock traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $23.30. The company had a trading volume of 422,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 393,299. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.11. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $18.74 and a one year high of $31.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $23.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.42.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $109.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.73 million. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.59% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Veritex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 8th. This is an increase from Veritex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. Veritex's payout ratio is 41.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VBTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Veritex from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Veritex from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James downgraded shares of Veritex from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Veritex in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.25.

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.