Stephens Inc. AR Cuts Holdings in Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its holdings in shares of Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX) by 31.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,769 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Veritex were worth $521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VBTX. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Veritex during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,139,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Veritex by 67.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 807,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,248,000 after purchasing an additional 325,569 shares during the last quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in Veritex by 39.0% in the third quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 561,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,782,000 after purchasing an additional 157,571 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates purchased a new position in Veritex in the third quarter worth $3,971,000. Finally, 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 last quarter. 88.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Veritex Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ VBTX opened at $26.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 13.63 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.21 and a 200 day moving average of $26.53. Veritex Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.08 and a 1 year high of $31.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.02). Veritex had a net margin of 13.44% and a return on equity of 7.59%. Research analysts forecast that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Veritex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VBTX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Veritex from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Veritex from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Veritex from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.50.

Veritex 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.