Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Veritex Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VBTX)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $30.86 and last traded at $30.69, with a volume of 32768 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $30.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Veritex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Veritex from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James upgraded Veritex from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Veritex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Veritex from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.40.

Veritex Stock Down 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.41.

Veritex (NASDAQ:VBTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $113.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.22 million. Veritex had a return on equity of 7.79% and a net margin of 11.11%. Veritex’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Veritex Holdings, Inc. will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Veritex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Veritex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Veritex

In related news, Director John Sughrue sold 16,820 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now owns 62,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,894,950.75. This trade represents a 21.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO C Malcolm Holland III sold 12,777 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.69, for a total value of $353,795.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 224,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,206,215.08. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Veritex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in Veritex by 16.4% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,668,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,193,000 after buying an additional 235,154 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Veritex by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,795,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,766,000 after buying an additional 23,222 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in Veritex during the second quarter valued at $566,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Veritex during the second quarter valued at $730,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Veritex by 66.5% during 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 buying an additional 169,448 shares during the period. 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.