Hovde Group Upgrades Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) to "Outperform"

Hovde Group upgraded shares of Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Free Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $31.50 price objective on the financial services provider's stock.

VBTX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Veritex from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of 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 cut shares of Veritex from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Veritex currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.50.

Veritex Stock Down 2.5 %

VBTX stock traded down $0.68 during trading on Thursday, hitting $26.12. 286,092 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 469,400. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.39 and a beta of 1.38. Veritex has a 52-week low of $18.08 and a 52-week high of $31.62.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.59%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Veritex will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Veritex's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Veritex news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.25, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veritex

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Veritex by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,293,966 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,064,000 after buying an additional 18,185 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Veritex by 63.8% during 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 last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Veritex by 14.7% in 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Veritex by 24.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 631,372 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $16,618,000 after buying an additional 122,809 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Veritex by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 48,582 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 2,115 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.