Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Share Price Passes Below 200-Day Moving Average - Should You Sell?

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $25.77 and traded as low as $25.55. Veritex shares last traded at $25.71, with a volume of 323,982 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VBTX. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Veritex from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Veritex from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James raised Veritex from a "market perform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $29.40.

Veritex Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67 and a beta of 1.38. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $28.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Veritex's dividend payout ratio is 51.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veritex

In other news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 62,643 shares in the company, valued at $1,894,950.75. The trade was a 21.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 12,777 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 224,132 shares in the company, valued at $6,206,215.08. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 4.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VBTX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Veritex during the second quarter worth about $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Veritex by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $98,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd increased its position in shares of Veritex by 16.5% during 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. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Veritex by 295.8% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 7,438 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $196,000 after purchasing an additional 5,559 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.31% of the company's stock.

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.