Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Several other research analysts have also commented on VBTX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Veritex from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Veritex from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an equal weight rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Veritex in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $24.38.

Veritex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VBTX opened at $20.60 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.65. Veritex has a 52 week low of $15.93 and a 52 week high of $24.46. The company has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.98 and a beta of 1.33.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $191.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.70 million. Veritex had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 12.47%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Veritex will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veritex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VBTX. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Veritex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Veritex in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Veritex by 1,319.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 3,008 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Veritex in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Veritex in the 4th quarter worth $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.31% of the company’s stock.

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.