Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 69,386 Shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) by 61.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,709 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 69,386 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.08% of Veritex worth $1,124,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Veritex by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,795,336 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $77,766,000 after purchasing an additional 23,222 shares during the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex during the second quarter worth $566,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Veritex in the second quarter valued at $730,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Veritex by 66.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 424,106 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $8,944,000 after purchasing an additional 169,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates acquired a new stake in Veritex in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,971,000. 88.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 12,777 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.69, for a total transaction of $353,795.13. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total value of $508,805.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 62,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,894,950.75. This represents a 21.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.60% of the company's stock.

Veritex Stock Performance

VBTX stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $30.38. The company had a trading volume of 280,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 402,675. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.08 and a fifty-two week high of $31.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a PE ratio of 19.47 and a beta of 1.36. 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 50 day moving average price of $27.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.31.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $113.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.22 million. Veritex had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 7.79%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. Veritex's payout ratio is presently 51.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VBTX shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Veritex from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Veritex from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded 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. Three research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Veritex presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $29.40.

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.